Fukuoka

Is Fukuoka safe?

Yes. Fukuoka is a very safe city, and we score it 89 out of 100, level with Tokyo and two points above Osaka. Fukuoka Prefecture, home to about 5.1 million people, recorded 39 homicide cases in 2025, a Japanese count that includes attempts. Fukuoka City itself had 10 robberies and 15 bag snatchings all year.

Fukuoka's crime rate is not the lowest in Japan. The prefecture recorded 758 criminal offences per 100,000 people in 2025, joint third of 47 prefectures with Aichi, behind Osaka (960) and Gunma, and above Tokyo (701), according to the National Police Agency. Most of that is bicycle theft, shoplifting and fraud aimed at residents. For a visitor the picture is simpler: the streets are calm, the centre is compact, and the risks worth planning for are nightlife touts, summer weather and earthquakes.

Nakasu, touts and bar bills

Nakasu, the island between two rivers in the middle of the city, is one of the biggest nightlife districts in Japan, with hundreds of bars, clubs and hostess venues next to the riverside yatai food stalls. It is safe to walk through at any hour, and police are a constant presence.

The UK Foreign Office warns that drink spiking and huge credit card bills are a risk in nightlife districts across Japan, and that British visitors have been arrested after disputes over inflated bills. Its named hot spots are in Tokyo, but the same model operates in Nakasu: a street tout approaches with an offer of cheap drinks, and the bill arrives later. Choose bars yourself, ask for a price list and any cover charge before ordering, and pay as you go.

Theft is mostly about bicycles. Police recorded 5,007 bike thefts in Fukuoka City in 2025, a third of all crime in the city, against 15 bag snatchings. If you rent a bike or use the city's shared bikes, lock it and park it in a marked bicycle park.

Walking at night

Tenjin, Hakata Station, Daimyo and Nakasu stay lit and busy until the last subway trains around midnight, and most visitors find the city comfortable after dark. Police boxes (koban) sit near every main station.

Gallup's 2025 Global Safety Report found that 78% of Japanese adults feel safe walking alone at night, fewer than in Taiwan or South Korea, though Japan's crime figures are lower. Police recorded 167 rapes and indecent assaults in Fukuoka City in 2025, about 10 per 100,000 residents: more than Kyoto, fewer than Osaka City. Groping on crowded trains is the problem the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary highlights for women. Late at night, take a taxi from a rank rather than accepting a lift from someone met in a bar.

Earthquakes, typhoons and summer rain

Fukuoka escapes the worst of Japan's earthquake risk. There is no subduction zone off its coast, and a Nankai Trough quake far to the south-east would be felt far less here than in Osaka.

But the Kego fault runs straight through the city, from Hakata Bay under the Chuo and Minami wards towards Dazaifu. Its north-western section caused the magnitude 7.0 West off Fukuoka earthquake in 2005, which killed one person, injured 1,069 and destroyed 132 houses. The government's Earthquake Research Committee gives the south-eastern section, the part under the city, a 0.3% to 6% chance of an M7.2 quake within 30 years, which puts it in the high-risk group of Japanese faults. The committee also notes that soft ground in Fukuoka City makes shaking stronger. Adding up every source, the government's J-SHIS hazard model gives the area around City Hall in Tenjin a 6% chance of shaking of intensity 6-lower or stronger within 30 years, against 31% in Osaka and 47% in Tokyo.

Rain is the more frequent problem. The rainy season in June and July and typhoons from July to September bring downpours that flood rivers and low ground; the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says typhoon risk is highest in southern Japan. For a short stay:

• Turn on emergency alerts on your phone and install the Japan Tourism Agency's Safety tips app.
• Avoid underground passages and riverbanks during heavy rain warnings.
• Keep a spare day before flights or the Busan ferry in typhoon season.

Summers are hot and humid, often above 35°C. The underground shopping street under Tenjin is the coolest way across the centre.

Air, water and roads

Air is good but not quite as clean as in Tokyo. Fukuoka City's monitors measured annual PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary of 9.2 to 11.4 µg/m³ in the 2024 financial year, and spring brings days of haze and yellow dust from mainland Asia. If you have asthma, check the forecast in March to May. Tap water is safe, and Kyushu University Hospital and the city's other large hospitals are excellent, though English is limited outside them.

Roads are safe. Fukuoka Prefecture recorded 85 road deaths in 2025, about 1.7 per 100,000 people, and 38 of them were pedestrians; 49 of all the dead were 65 or older. Cyclists ride fast on pavements in Tenjin and Hakata, and drivers turning left at junctions do not always see people crossing.

If you are travelling on to Korea, see our Busan page; for the rest of the country, see Japan.

How we scored it

Violent crime (95), traffic (90) and walking at night (89) are near the top of our scale, and theft and scams (88) loses points for the Nakasu bar-bill risk and bike theft. Natural hazards (74) is the weakest factor because of the Kego fault, typhoons and summer floods, though it scores better than Tokyo and Osaka, which face larger earthquakes. Health and environment (87) sits just below Tokyo's because of spring haze.