Happy Golden Week everyone! In Japan, Golden Week is a string of holidays that amounts to a 4- or 5-day weekend, depending on what days those holidays fall. It’s a busy time for travel, and most of my friends are exploring southeast Asia, but I stayed in Fukuoka and explored the city more.

That’s one way of saying: I wanted to explore Kyushu and go camping for four days but didn’t plan the trip properly so just scrapped it.

Thankfully, the Hakata Dontaku festival was also on. Having existed in some form or another for more than 800 years, it’s also the most attended Golden Week festival in Japan, with 2 million people descending down to Fukuoka to see two days of dancing, parades, and street food.