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Fukuoka

(福岡市, -shi?) is the capital city of Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyūshū in Japan, across the Korea Strait from South Korea’s Busan.

It is the most populous city in Kyūshū, followed by Kitakyūshū. It is the largest city and metropolitan area west of . The city was designated on April 1, 1972 by . Greater (福岡都市圏) with 2.5 million people (2005 Census), is part of the heavily industrialized North Kyūshū zone.
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(the area of Kashii, , and Imazu) is said to be the oldest city in Japan, because it is the nearest city to China and Korea. The area around is among the oldest non-Jōmon settlements in Japan. Dazaifu was an administrative capital in 663 A.D., but some say[weasel words] a prehistoric capital was in the area. such as the Kojiki and archaeology confirm this was a very critical place in the founding of Japan. Some scholars[1] even go as far as to claim it was the first place outsiders and the Imperial Family set foot, but like many early Japan origin theories, it remains contested. See . is sometimes still referred to as , the central ward of the city.

[edit] (1274–1281)
in
in

Main article: of Japan

’s Bay is Japan’s gateway to Korea and China. Gateways, of course, attract interest; after having conquered and terrorised Asia, the great Mongol Kublai Khan of the turned his attention to Japan starting in 1268, exerting a new external pressure on Japan with which it had no experience. Kublai Khan first sent an envoy to Japan to make the Shogunate acknowledge Khan’s suzerainty. The refused. Mongolia repeatedly sent envoys thereafter, each time urging the Shogunate to accept their proposal, but to no avail.

In 1274 Kublai Khan mounted an invasion of the northern part of Kyūshū with a fleet of 900 ships and 33,000 troops, which included troops from Goryeo on the Korean peninsula. This first invasion was compromised by a combination of incompetence and storms.

After the first invasion of 1274, Japanese built a 20 kilometers in length bordering the coast of Bay in what is now . The wall, between 2–3 metres in height and having a base width of 3 metres, was constructed between 1276 and 1277 and was excavated again in the 1930s.

Kublai sent another envoy to Japan in 1279. At that time, Hōjō Tokimune of the Hōjō clan (1251–1284) was the Eighth . Not only did he decline the offer, but he beheaded the five Mongolian emissaries after summoning them to Kamakura. Infuriated, Kublai made another attack on Prefecture in 1281, mobilizing 140,000 soldiers and 4,000 ships. The Japanese defenders, numbering around 40,000, were no match for the Mongols and the invasion force made it as far as Dazaifu, 15 kilometers south of the city of . However, the Japanese were aided by another typhoon which struck a crushing blow to the Mongolian troops, and the invasion was thwarted.

It was this typhoon that came to be called the Kamikaze (Divine Wind).

[edit] Formation of the modern city (1889)
The Tenjin area
The Tenjin area
Canal City
Canal City

was formerly the residence of the powerful daimyo of , and played an important part in the medieval . The renowned temple of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the district was destroyed by fire during the Boshin war of 1868.

The modern city was formed on April 1, 1889, with the merger of the former cities of and . Historically, was the port and merchant district, and was more associated with the area’s culture and remains the main commercial area today. On the other hand, the area was home to many , and its name has been used since Kuroda Nagamasa, the first daimyo of , named it after his birthplace in Okayama Prefecture and the “old ” is the main shopping area and now called Tenjin.

When and decided to merge, a meeting was held to decide the name for the new city. was initially chosen, but a group of crashed the meeting and forced those present to choose as the name for the merged city. However, is still used to reference to the area of the city and, most famously, to refer to the city’s train station, Station, and dialect, -ben.

[edit] 20th century
Hall, .
Hall, .
An intersection in .
An intersection in .

* 1903: Medical College, a campus associated with Kyoto Imperial University, is founded. In 1911, the college is renamed to Kyūshū Imperial University and established as a separate entity.
* 1910: streetcar service begins. (The service ran until 1979.)
* 1929: Flights commence along the --Tokyo route.
* 1945: Saturation bombing of Japanese cities commences on Honshū with one of the targets. Vivisections of American POWs are performed at Kyūshū Imperial University Hospital.
* 1947: First Marathon.
* 1951: airport opens.
* 1953: Zoo opens.
* 1981: Subway commences service.
* 1988: ’s pro baseball team, the Nankai Hawks, are moved to and renamed the Daiei Hawks. (Renamed the SoftBank Hawks in 2004).
* 1995: (Asian CrossRoads Over the ), a multipurpose convention and cultural center, is founded to encourage increased relations with other Asian countries. It is located in Tenjin, and features a large park, terraced gardens, a library and other facilities for encouraging peaceful relations with other Asian cultures.[2]

[edit] 21st century

* 2005: subway Nanakuma Line started operation.

[edit] Geography
as viewed from .
as viewed from .
The view downstream along the Nakagawa () from Canal City in -ku.
The view downstream along the Nakagawa () from Canal City in -ku.

is bordered on three sides by mountains and opens, on the north, to the of . Much of the city is now built on reclaimed land, with ongoing developments in Higashi-ku building more artificial islands.[ needed]

It is located 1,100 km from Tokyo.

[edit] Climate
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Along with much of the prefecture, has a moderate climate with an annual average temperature of 16.3 °C, average humidity of 70%, 1,811 annual daylight hours and 205 cm of precipitation. Roughly 40% of the year is cloudy.

Winter temperatures rarely drop below 0 °C and it rarely snows. Spring is warm and more sunny, with cherry blossoms appearing in late March or early April. The rainy season (tsuyu) lasts for approximately six weeks through June and July, during which time the humidity is very high and temperatures hover between 25 °C and 30 °C. Summers are humid and hot, with temperatures peaking around 37 °C. Fall, often considered to be ’s best season, is mild and dry, though the typhoon season runs between August and September.

[edit] Earthquakes

Main article: 2005 earthquake

is not as seismically active as many other parts of Japan, but does experience occasional earthquakes. The most powerful recent earthquake registered a lower 6 of maximum 7 of the Japanese intensity scale and hit at 10:53 am local time on March 20, Easter Sunday 2005, killing one person and injuring more than 400. The epicentre of the earthquake was in the of , along a yet-undiscovered extension of the fault that runs through the centre of . island, a part of Nishi-ku, was the most severely damaged by the earthquake and almost all island residents were forced to evacuate. Aftershocks continued intermittently throughout the following weeks as construction crews worked to rebuild damaged buildings throughout the city. Traditional Japanese houses, particularly in the areas of Daimyo and Imaizumi, were the most heavily damaged and many were marked for demolition, along with several apartment buildings. Insurance payments for damages were estimated at approximately 15.8 billion yen.[ needed]

’s major fault, runs northwest to southeast, roughly parallel to Nishitetsu’s Omuta train line, and was previously thought to be 22 km long. It is estimated to produce earthquakes as strong as magnitude 7 at the focus approximately once every 15,000 years. If the focus were located at a depth of 10 km, this would translate to an earthquake of a lower-6 magnitude (similar to the March 20, 2005 earthquake) in if it were the epicenter. The probability of an earthquake along the known length of the fault occurring within 30 years was estimated at 0.4% prior to the March 20, 2005 earthquake, but this probability has been revised upwards since. Including the new extension out into the of , the fault is now thought to be 40 km long.

Following reports that the city has only prepared for earthquakes up to a magnitude of 6.5, several strong aftershock renewed fears that the quakes might cause the portion of the faultline that lies under the city to become active again, leading to an earthquake as big as, or bigger than, the March 20 quake.

is Kyushu’s largest and one of Japan’s ten most populated cities.

Because of its closeness to the Asian mainland (closer to Seoul than to Tokyo), has been an important harbor city for many centuries and was chosen by the Mongol invasion forces as their landing point in the 12th century.

Today’s is the product of the fusion of two cities in the year 1889, when the port city of and the former castle town of were united into one city called . remains the name of ’s central district and main railway station.

Attractions
Central
Yatai (Food Stalls) (2) Offering a special atmosphere every night.
Ohori Park (5) Public city park with a central pond.
Momochi Seaside Park (3) Futuristic district along the waterfront.
Canal City (1) Large shopping and entertainment complex.
Shofukuji Temple (6) Japan’s first Zen temple.
Castle Ruins (3) Ruins of the city’s former castle.
Side Trips from
Dazaifu Historic town south of .
best of the best best of Japan outstanding
(1) - (99) most visited attractions

Orientation
Orientation
How to get to and around .

About transportation in Japan

Accommodation
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