Kitakyūshū is a city located in Fukuoka prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, Japan. It is located halfway between Tokyo and Shanghai. It has a population of almost one million inhabitants. Together with the city of Shimonoseki on the island of Honshu, it makes up most of the area of the Kanmon Strait. From Kokura Station, you can reach the largest city in the prefecture, Fukuoka City, by shinkansen in 20 minutes.
Formerly this region belonged to the Kokura prefecture, which was separated from the Fukuoka prefecture in 1871 when the Japanese feudal system was abolished, however it was reabsorbed by the Fukuoka prefecture; the city of Kokura was founded in this area in 1900. Kokura was the target of the atomic bomb “Fat Man”. But Kokura escaped the atomic bomb because the weather was cloudy. In the end, the “Fat Man” atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The current city of Kitakyūshū was founded on February 10, 1963, and was the result of the union of five cities: Moji, Kokura, Tobata, Yahata and Wakamatsu. On April 1, 1963 it was converted into a city assigned by the Japanese government. Kitakyushu is considered an Eco-model city in the Japan government’s Eco-model cities program for its outstanding improvements and future plans in relation to the environment and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
