About Kitaq

Anastasia — Ana to friends — is a New York-born writer and English teacher who has lived in Moji-ku, Kitakyushu since 2024. Two years on the ground have turned a long-running Japan enthusiasm into working knowledge of the city’s quieter corners: Kokura’s backstreet izakaya, the harbor cafés of Mojiko Retro, the cherry blossom spots only neighbors know about, and the everyday Japan that travel guides rarely capture.

Kitaq is her field notebook. She writes about things to do in Kitakyushu and Kokura — but with a local’s eye for what’s actually worth your time. Expect practical guides to Kokura Castle, seasonal coverage of Kawachi Wisteria Garden, food walks through Tanga Market, day-trip routes to Yufuin and Beppu, and itineraries built around real days — not Instagram shots.

When she’s not writing, Ana is teaching English, looking after a small menagerie of pets, and slowly working her way through Japanese. She’s most interested in the kind of travel writing that answers the questions you’d actually ask someone who lives there.