With about 100 minutes left to walk around Fukuoka, I decided to visit the Fukuoka City Botanical Garden next to the zoo, then work my way back to the port by the shortest route through Tenjin. At this point, I could almost walk around Fukuoka without a map and not get lost.
Next to the zoo entrance are the long, steep steps to the Fukuoka City Botanical Garden, which made me wonder how I'm supposed to bring kids there in the future
At the end of the steps you still have to walk some more, but it looks like the hill does offer some nice picnic spots for the locals
Considering the check-in time at the Hakata Port, I now had less than three hours' time for sightseeing, including transit time. It was still more than enough for me to visit a museum, take a train back to Fukuoka, have lunch, and walk back to the port.
Kyushu National Museum, opened in 2005 as the first of its kind in Japan in more than a century, is spacious, modern, and easy to get around
The 4th floor of the museum houses the permanent exhibits, which has an extensive collection of historical items in the Kyushu region with the focus in the cultural exchanges with nearby countries like Korea and China