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KITA-KYUSHU |
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A narrow strip of water little more than 1km wide separates Kyushu
from the southern tip of Honshu. Three tunnels and a soaring suspension
bridge funnel road and rail traffic south from Shimonoseki into the
sprawling, industrial conurbation of KITA-KYUSHU . Most people travel
straight through to Fukuoka , but if you're arriving by ferry or
changing trains for Beppu and other east-coast towns, you may need to
make an overnight stop here. Kita-Kyushu was created in 1963 out of five
towns, of which Kokura is the largest. Here you'll find the city's main
train station, administrative offices, the majority of its hotels and
ferries to Matsuyama (Shikoku). Neighbouring Yahata , however, offers
the area's cheapest accommodation, while over on the east coast, Shin-Moji
now serves as the area's main ferry terminal.
Despite its surroundings, central Kokura is not an unattractive place.
It has a small but lively downtown area south of Kokura JR Station,
while the northern, port-side districts are catching up fast. It also
boasts the area's only notable sight, a reconstructed castle with a
moderately interesting museum, twenty minutes' walk west of the station.
Built in the mid-sixteenth century, Kokura-jo (daily: April-Oct 9am-6pm;
Jan-March, Nov & Dec till 5pm; ¥350) was home to the Ogasawara clan for
two hundred years until they were forced to abandon it in 1866. It then
lay in ruins until 1959 when the keep was rebuilt in the original style,
including its distinctive, overhanging fifth floor. While it's now all
concrete inside, it's worth venturing in to see a scale model of
seventeenth-century Kokura peopled by 1500 paper figures, full of life
and energy despite their diminutive size; use the knee-high telescopes
to take a closer look.
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