Airport food.
Everywhere on earth, it means overpriced sadness.
Not in Fukuoka.
Step off your plane. You’re on the 3rd floor of the terminal.
Nine ramen shops.
Nine masters.
All over Japan.
Hakata. Hokkaido. Kagoshima. Tokyo.
The same shops people line up for downtown.
They’re sitting between you and the exit.
You land.
You walk a few steps.
You’re slurping a bowl a master spent years getting right.
Then it gets strange.
5 km from the city.
Subway runs straight into the terminal.
Two stops.
5 minutes.
260 yen.
You finish your ramen, board a train, and reach the city center before your suitcase would’ve hit the belt at any other airport.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten inside an airport?
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