Fukuoka (Japanese: 福岡市 , Fukuoka-shi) is an industrial city
on the north coast of the southern Japanese main island of
Kyūshū. It is also the administrative center of the prefecture
of the same name.
Because of its proximity to the Korean
peninsula, the region was already a gateway for attackers in
ancient times. After Japan lost its last Korean possessions in
663/664, work soon began on building a military border to which
conscripts from all over the country were sent for three-year
periods. The command post was the Dazaifu fortress,
strategically located in a valley at the back.
The Mongol
invasions of 1274 and 1281 also ended here off the coast,
according to legend, by "divine winds," kamikaze. The Mongol
invasion was the impetus for the construction of a
twenty-kilometer-long protective wall around Hakata Bay, which
was manned until the collapse of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1333.
The port of Hakata remained the most important gateway for
travelers and trade for a long time, making it the richest city
in western Japan. There were an estimated 10,000 residents
around 1420. Europeans also traded here in the 16th century.
The castle was burned down in the Boshin War in 1868/9.
Modern Fukuoka was created when the old samurai city of Fukuoka
was united with the trading city of Hakata in 1889.
In Hakata Central Station, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Has
English-speaking staff at least part of the time.
Tenjin Tourist
Information Center 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (with stroller rental); Ground
floor at exit 西7 of the underground shopping arcade Tenjin-chikagai, at
the entrance to the Mitsukoshi department store.
Administratively, Fukuoka is divided into several districts (-ku, English “ward”). The inner city districts are Chūō-ku in the east and Hakata-ku in the west. They are divided by the small Naka River. Three other districts are named after the cardinal points: Higashi-ku (east), Minami-ku (south) and Nishi-ku (west). In addition, there are Jōnan-ku and Sawara-ku on the eastern outskirts of the city. The hinterland is mountainous on all three sides.
Cherry blossom season is late March/early April.
Zoo and
botanical garden (動植物園; zoo: bus 56, 58 Doubutsuen-mae; botanical
garden: bus 56, 57, 58 Ozasadanchiseimon-mae. Buses 56, 58 can be
reached from the Yakuin-odori subway (exit 2), then 5 minutes to the
Yakuin-odori stop). Open: 9:00-16:30, closed Mondays. Price: ¥ 600.
The ruins of the samurai castle, including the small Korokan Ruins
Museum, are now located within a spacious park, one half of which is
formed by a lake and in which there are other sights:
Tourist
information (福岡城むかし探訪館). Tel.: +81927324801. Open: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Fukuoka Museum of Art (福岡市美術館), 1-6 Ohorikoen, Chūō-ku,
810-0051福岡市中央区大濠公園1番6号. Modern and Western art. Open: Tue–Sun 9:30
a.m.–5:30 p.m., Fri–Sat in summer until 8:00 p.m. Price: ¥ 200.
Noh
Theater (大濠公園能楽堂). The classic, aristocratic Noh theater is performed
with masks and minimal stage decoration.
The museums mentioned close during the week around New Year.
Museum of Asian Art (福岡アジア美術館), 7th and 8th. 1st floor, Riverain Center
Bldg., 3-1 Shimokawabata-machi, Hakata-ku, (Nakasukawabata subway, exit
6) . Open: 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Fri - Sat until 8 p.m.; Closed on
Wednesday Price: ¥200, exhibitions extra.
City Museum (福岡市博物館), 3-1-1
Momochihama, Sawara-ku, 814-0001福岡市早良区百道浜三丁目1番1号 . Open: 9:30 a.m. –
5:30 p.m., Sat.+Sun. in summer until 8 p.m.; closed on Mondays. Price: ¥
200.
Prefectural Art Museum (福岡県立美術館), 5-2-1- Tenjin, Chūō-ku (Tenjin
subway, 10 min. walk). Main focus: local handicrafts, modern Japanese
art in the Western style and the painting collection of the Ogata
family, who were court painters of the ruling Kuroda clan for
generations. Open: closed on Mondays. Price: ¥ 210.
1 Shōfuku-ji (聖福至仁禅寺), 6-1, Gokushomachi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City
812-0037, 812-0037福岡市博多区御供所町6番1号 (Subway 1: Gion). Zen temple of the
Rinzai school, which traces its founding back to the founding father
Eisai in 1195. It is therefore considered the oldest Zen temple still in
existence in Japan. Largely destroyed at the end of the 16th century and
rebuilt in the following century. The meditation hall (Zendō) dates from
1802, the Kuri Hall from 1901, renovated in 1968.
2 Tōchō-ji (東長寺),
2-4 Gokushomachi, Hakata-ku, 812-0037福岡市博多区御供所町2番4号 (Subway: Gion, Exit
1). Tel.: +81 (0)92 291 44 59, Fax: +81 (0)92 291 45 04 . The main
Buddha statue is made of wood and is 10.8 meters high. Open: 9:00–16:45.
3 Hakozaki Shrine (筥崎宮), 1-22-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku (subway:
Hakozakimiya-mae). The deity of the original Usa Shrine, the spirit of
the 15th Heavenly Majesty Ōjin-tennō, was moved here in 923 together
with his mother Jingū. Later, Tamayori-hime, a legendary mermaid who is
said to have been the mother of the equally legendary Jimmu-tennō, was
added. Because of this illustrious population, the shrine was richly
endowed for centuries. Most of the buildings date from the second half
of the 16th century. Temple festivals include the "sand-gathering
festival" on the days of the equinox. The Hōjōya takes place from
September 12th to 18th. 700 stalls are set up beforehand. The new year
is “opened” with the Tamaseseri celebration on January 3rd. Open:
6:00–19:00.
The exhibition and convention center is at the harbor.
Gambling is prohibited in Japan with very few exceptions. One of these
is boat races, on which you can bet. There is a boat racing track in the
harbor basin. Dates, and races take place during the day, can be found
on the website (Japanese only).
The protected Atago beach, which
was created in the harbor, is rather modest. On the other bank is
Momochi beach. The area was built for the Asia-Pacific Expo in 1989.
Here is the Fukuoka Tower, whose observation deck can be reached via the
south entrance (9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m., ¥ 800, seniors ¥ 720).
From
here, boats leave about every 2 hours across the bay to Umi-no-Nakamichi
with its dolphinarium (“Marine World”).
The 15-day November
tournament of the national sport of sumo is held in Fukuoka. Getting
tickets close to the ring is probably impossible for short-term
visitors. If you are lucky and queue up early enough at the Kokusai
Center (福岡国際センター; subway: Gofukumachi) you may be able to get day
tickets for the cheap seats. Before the hall fills up in the afternoon
you can then watch the wrestlers from the lower classes up close.
During the Hakata-dontaku festival (from Dutch Zondag, Sunday), which
takes place on May 3rd and 4th and was originally a New Year's custom,
there is a parade of costumed groups as well as dance and song
performances by the population on a series of stages set up in the city
center.
The festival of the Kushida Shrine (Kushida-jinja),
called Hakata Gion-yamakasa, which is over 760 years old, takes place in
the first half of July. In the districts of the former merchant city of
Hakata, "jewelry mountains" (kazari-yama) filled with historical dolls
are set up. Seven lower "carrying mountains" weighing almost a ton are
moved through the respective district on certain dates. The climax and
end of the festival begins at 4:49 a.m. on July 15th, when hundreds of
men compete with their district's "carrying mountain" over a distance of
about 5 kilometers for the shortest time.
Tamaseseri (literally
"ball competition") is a custom that takes place on January 3rd at
Hakozaki Shrine. Men wrapped in a loincloth fight for a wooden ball.
According to tradition, touching this ball protects against illness and
other evils. The most important festival of this shrine is a harvest
festival called Hōjōya in the autumn (September 12th to 18th).
The annual festival of Sumiyoshi Shrine is celebrated with sumo
wrestling matches, among other things.
By plane
Fukuoka Airport (福岡空港, formerly: Itazuke Air Base,
IATA: FUK; close to the city, 2km from the main station. Domestic
terminal accessible by subway 1 (first journey 5:48 h), international
terminal directly only by Nishitetsu bus from Hakata main station (33
min, stop 11, ¥ 270) or Tenjin (37 min, ¥ 320); there are also shuttle
buses between the terminals). The fourth largest airport in Japan with
numerous domestic connections. Due to the proximity to the city, there
is a ban on night flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. International flights
in East Asia are to China, Korea, including Manila, Bangkok or
Singapore.
By train
The main station still bears the name
Hakata (博多駅). The Sanyō Shinkansen to Shin-Ōsaka runs from here. The
Kyūshū Shinkansen runs south along the west coast. Kamome express trains
take 2 hours to reach Nagasaki.
The Kumamoto main line connects
this port city in the south with Mojikō, where the ferries to Honshū
depart.
A local train is the Chikiuhi Line (筑肥線, Chikuhi-sen),
which runs almost seventy kilometers west along the coast to Karatsu.
There you can connect to Yamamoto (Saga Prefecture) and Imari.
East of Fukuoka are the sections of the Fukuhoku Yutaka Line.
By
bus
English bus booking page for all companies operating on Kyūshū.
Telephone information +81 92-734-2727 (8 a.m. to 7 p.m.). The bus
terminal is directly on the north side of the main station.
Night
buses from Osaka-Umeda or Kyoto take 9½ hours. With a journey time of 14
hours, the Hakata night bus from Tokyo-Shinjuku is the longest scheduled
route without changing trains. Prices vary depending on bus quality and
season.
By road
From the south of Kyushu you can get to
Highway 3 from Kumamoto (114km) and Kurume (41-44km). From Nagasaki it
is 153km on the highway. From the west coast of the island it is 140km
inland from Beppu via Tosu, 160km on the coastal route.
Kitakyushu, from where you can get to the main island of Honshu through
the tunnel towards Hiroshima (282km) and Osaka (approx. 630km), is
71-76km away.
A highway ring goes around the city center.
By ship
The port is also still called Hakata. There is a cruise
terminal and two ferry terminals: the international one for ferries to
Pusan (博多港国際ターミナル) in Korea and the regional one, the Hakafutodai
Ferry Terminal (博多ふ頭) with ticket office.
The speedboats to Pusan
(3 times a day) belong to the JR Kyūshū railway company. The Camellia
Line has regular ferries, once a day, for ¥ 9000 in 2nd class (luggage
and bicycles extra).
Domestic ferries go to:
Izuhara (厳原港) on
Tsushima via Ashibe (芦辺港) on Iki. Kyūshū Yūsen operates both a regular
ferry and a speedboat (jetfoil) at prices between ¥ 2270-4620 (as of
2021).
Some ships to Pusan make a stopover in Hikakatsu (North
Chushima).
Across the islands of Ukushima (宇久島) (Ukutaira port),
Ojika ((小値賀島) Nakadori (中通島); Aokata port), Wakamatsu (若松島) (Doinoura
port) to Gotō (五島市)
The Fukuoka Tourist City Pass, which is valid for all local
transport, is available in two versions: Fukuoka and Fukuoka+Dazaifu for
¥ 1500 and ¥ 1820 respectively. In the subway, you have to show it at
the manned window; it does not work at the automatic gates. It is
available not only at the airport bus terminal and Tenjin Tourist
Information Center, but also at the customer centers at the harbor, the
bus station, Hakata Station and the Nishitetsu Info in Tenjin and Hakata
Station. As is usual in Japan, there are also small discounts for
various entrance fees.
The 8.5 km between Hakata and
Hakata-Minami Station can be traveled in ten minutes on the Shinkansen,
although it is local transport and costs ¥ 300.
A bus runs a
circular route between Tenjin and Hakata Station every 5-10 minutes
during the day (¥ 100).
Nishitetsu: Bus and train
The
Nishitetsu is a private railway that also operates the city's bus lines.
Its main standard gauge line runs from Tenjin in a north-south direction
through the prefecture to Ōmuta (大牟田駅).
The Amagi line (天城町)
connects to the Ōmuta line in Miyanojin (宮の陣). It runs through the city
of Kurume.
The Kaizuka line in Cape gauge connects to the city
subway there and runs 11km to Shingū (新宮町).
The short Dazaifu
line connects this to Chikushino.
The customer center is at
Tenjin station in the Solaria Stage Building. The company also operates
some long-distance buses. All nationally common prepaid cards can be
used on the trains and city buses. As elsewhere, you get on the bus in
the middle, hold your card to the reader or swipe the stop number and
pay the driver the exact fare when you get off. Single journeys ¥
100-450.
Subway
also called Kūkō-sen (空港線, airport line)
connects this via the main station along the coast with the suburb of
Meinohama.
The Hakozaki-sen 箱崎線 connects Nakasu-Kawabata (change
to line 1) with Kaizuka where there is a connection to a Nishitetsu
line.
Nanakuma-sen 七隈線, light green on maps, runs from Hakata
main station through the main business district in Chūō-ku to the
southwest 12km to Hashimoto.
In addition to single tickets (¥
200-370 depending on distance), which can also be paid for at the
entrance gates with all prepaid cards common in Japan, there are day
tickets for ¥ 640 available from all machines. The 2-day tickets for ¥
740 are only available at the information kiosks mentioned in the
Tourist Pass.
Ferries
Boats to the peninsula protecting the
harbor travel from the Hakata ferry port to Saitozaki (the train station
next door) and then on to Shikanoshima.
From the Meinohama branch
(subway 1: Meinohama, north exit, continue with the Nishitetsu bus to
Noko Tosenba. This bus also runs directly from Hakata main station, bus
platform A) you can get to the island of Oronoshima and the island of
Nokoshima where there is an adventure park (¥ 1200, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00
p.m.). There is also an entrance fee for the sandy beach at Camp
Village.
Hakata Station is built over by a Hankyu department store. Behind it
begins the main business district, which extends across the river to the
Tenjin district.
The Tenjin Chikagai (天神地下街) is an underground
shopping arcade. It connects the Tenjin and Tenjin-Minami stations.
Canal City is a shopping center with 250 shops.
Like other cities in Kyushu, Fukuoka claims to serve its own,
excellent style of ramen. Here they are called Hakata Ramen. These
noodle soups are taken quite seriously here. There is a friendly dispute
with Kurume about who invented the Tonkutsu ramen (with pork ribs).
The local gyōza are no different from the usual, although more than
the usual 5-6 are served here and these are then served on hot plates
made of ceramic or cast iron (Tetsunabe Gyōza).
Mizutaki is a
stew for which chicken is first boiled in water without any seasoning.
Mushrooms and noodles or similar are only added before serving. Such
stews cooked only in water have long been common in Kyushu and Kansai.
The Hakata version with chicken goes back to the restaurant Shin-Miura
(新三浦 博多本店; 21-12 Sekijomachi, Hakata-ku. 12:00–15:00, 18:00–22:00),
which was founded in 1910.
Yatai food stalls are open (mobile)
stalls with typical izakaya dishes. They can be found concentrated on
the Nakasu bank of the river.
The liveliest is the river island of Nakasu. It can be reached from
the subway stations Tenjin (line 1), Tenjin-Minami (line 3) or
Nakasukawabata (line 1, 2).
Younger people mainly meet in the
Oyafukō-dōri in the Daimyō (大名) district, between subway 1 Tenjin and
Akasaka.
If you are looking for a campsite close to the city, you are in good
hands near the dolphinarium (ferry to Saitozaki, or Umi-no-Nakamichi
station 1km).
Cabinas (capsule hotel カプセル; 11-story building,
near the train station, exit P5). No women, no one with tattoos (yes,
Japan is still that politically correct in 2021)! With bathhouse and
paid sauna, massages. 24-hour restaurant. Feature: free WiFi. Check-in:
5:00 p.m. Check-out: 11:00 a.m. Price: ¥ 4180-5060.
The 4* Hotel
Nikko with pool and its own church is also in the same block.
The whole of Kyūshū is a seismically highly active zone. Severe
earthquakes can be expected at any time.
The Fukuoka Regional
Immigration Bureau (福岡出入国在留管理局; e.g. visa extension) is also located in
the building of the city administration's legal department (3-5-25
Maizuru, Chūō-ku; subway 1: Akasaka, exit 1). Like all of these offices
in Japan, it is open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00
p.m., so it is advisable to arrive as early as possible. Expect
un-Japanese rudeness, and an interpreter is strongly recommended if you
do not speak the language. Fees are to be paid with tax stamps (印紙,
inshi).
Midsummer is hot and humid, with daytime temperatures well over 30°C.
The rainiest months are June and July. Snow is extremely rare, and frost
only occurs on a few days in January and February.
Saiseikai
Fukuoka General Hospital (福岡県済生会福岡総合病院; subway 3: Tenjin-Minami, exit
5). Open: day clinic Mon-Fri, no emergency room.
Telephone area code: (+81) 92…
Telephone interpreter
service/travel information (also English, German, Italian): +81 92 687
6639 (24 hours, free)
The Fukuoka WiFi hotspots can be used after
registration, which is valid for six months. There is no time limit,
this depends at most on the opening times of the operators involved
(Japanese map of hotspots).
Fukuoka is located on Hakata Bay in the north of the third largest
main island of the Japanese archipelago at 33 degrees north latitude and
130 degrees east longitude, making it roughly the same latitude as
Shanghai, Casablanca, or Los Angeles. The city covers 343.4 square
kilometers in a semi-oval shape over the so-called Fukuoka Plain. With
around 1.6 million people, it is slightly larger than Munich.
The
municipal area also includes the island of Nokonoshima in Hakata Bay,
Shikanoshima north of the bay, Genkai-jima northwest of the bay, and the
island of Oronoshima, 25 km northwest of it in the Sea of Japan.
On April 1, 1972, Fukuoka was declared a “government-designated city” (Seirei shitei toshi, 政令指定都市). At the same time, the city was divided into five wards (ku, 区). On May 10, 1982, two more wards were separated from the Nishi district: Jōnan and Sawara. Three more wards are named after directions: Nishi (西, west), Minami (南, south) and Higashi (東, east). The Chūō district (中央, "middle") is considered the center, and the city administration is located here.
Fukuoka has a summer-wet monsoon climate with hot, humid summers and relatively mild winters. The highest temperature ever recorded was 37.7 °C (15 August 2004), the lowest −8.2 °C (5 February 1919). The average annual temperature is 16.8 °C. Annual precipitation in normal years is 1500–2000 mm. The longest heat wave to date was in the summer of 1978 with a total of 79 days of temperatures over 30 °C.
North Kyushu has been inhabited since the Paleolithic period, as a
number of archaeological finds show. Due to its geographical location,
the region has been a hub for traffic with the Asian mainland since
ancient times. Rice was first grown here on Japanese soil in the 4th
century BC. A Chinese gold seal found in 1784 with the inscription "King
of the Land of Na of Wa of Han" indicates the existence of a small state
of Na. A tribute delegation from this state from 57 AD is also mentioned
in the Book of the Later Han (Hou Han Shu), but there are still many
interpretations regarding the correlation with archaeological finds,
etc. A hall (Tsukushi no murotsumi) can be proven for the 7th century,
which indicates an upturn in traffic with the mainland. In the 9th
century, an official guest hall (Kōrōkan) was used to receive foreign
delegations, to send off embassies to China, and to manage and control
foreign trade. The city was then called Hakata (博多) and was mainly
inhabited by traders and fishermen. From the end of the 11th century,
Chinese traders also settled here, which is still evident today in the
place name Tōjin-machi (Chinese quarter). In 1161, an artificial harbor
was created here for the first time in Japanese history by reclaiming
land. In 1195, Japan's first Zen temple, the Shōfuku-ji, was built in
Hakata, which still functions as a place of meditation today.
In
the second half of the 13th century, the region became the scene of two
attempted invasions by Mongolian troops initiated under Kublai Khan.
After the first exploratory battles in 1274, a 20-kilometer-long stone
wall was built, the remains of which can be seen in many places in the
bay. In 1281, the Mongols appeared again with a huge fleet. The typhoon
that decimated this fleet and saved the country went down in Japanese
history as the kamikaze (god's wind). At the end of the 16th century,
the region experienced a further boom after the general Toyotomi
Hideyoshi (1537–1598) brought the island of Kyūshū under his control.
With the establishment of the Tokugawa dynasty under the shogun
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the situation on Kyūshū was also
reorganized. In return for its support in the Battle of Sekigahara
(1600), the House of Kuroda received a new fief. Since the Najima Castle
(Najima-jō) in the east of the bay did not offer enough surrounding land
for urban development, Kuroda Nagamasa (1568–1623), the first prince of
this fief, had a castle built in the west of Hakata between 1601 and
1607, which he called Fukuoka. The name also included the settlement
around the castle, where the samurai responsible for the administration
lived.
For a long time, the two settlements of Fukuoka and Hakata
existed separately from each other. In the course of the reorganization
of the administrative districts after the Meiji Restoration, the trading
city of Hakata (25,677 inhabitants) and the samurai city of Fukuoka
(20,410 inhabitants) were united under the name Fukuoka in 1889.
Fukuoka's main railway station (Japan Railways), built in the area of
the former Hakata, is called Hakata Station (博多駅 Hakata-eki), while
the station of a regional private railway in the area of the former
Fukuoka is called Fukuoka Station (福岡駅 Fukuoka-eki).
During the
First World War, the former governor of the German colony of Tsingtau
and his staff were interned as prisoners in Fukuoka. Due to the
geographical location and economic importance, an imperial university,
the University of Kyushu, was built in the east of the city in 1911.
Today, there are a large number of private universities and colleges in
the catchment area of the city.
On July 16, 1927, the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Fukuoka was established in Fukuoka.
During
the Second World War, large parts of the city fell victim to incendiary
bombs. In the post-war period, Fukuoka recovered quickly. Although the
neighboring city of Kitakyushu with its steelworks and many processing
plants also plays an important role in the industrial sector, Fukuoka is
still the most important commercial city on Kyushu.
The northern
part of Kyushu is one of the seismically quieter regions of the Japanese
archipelago, but even here strong earthquakes occasionally occur. On
March 20, 2005, the "Earthquake in the western coastal region of Fukuoka
Prefecture" (Fukuoka-ken seihō-oki-jishin) with a magnitude of 7.0
destroyed numerous buildings. One person died and over 400 were injured.
Sōichirō Takashima has been the mayor of Fukuoka (Fukuoka-shichō)
since 2010. In November 2022, he was re-elected for a fourth term
against the center-left-supported (KDP, DVP, SDP) former city council
member Shinsuke Tanaka and another candidate with a three-quarters
majority.
The Fukuoka City Council (Fukuoka-shigikai) normally
has 62 members: twelve from the East District, eleven from the South
District, nine each from the Sawara and Hakata Districts, eight from the
West District, seven from the Central District and six from Jōnan. It
was re-elected in the unified elections in April 2023, and the LDP
remained the strongest party.
The capital has been represented by
a total of 23 members in the 87-member Fukuoka Prefectural Parliament
(Fukuoka-kengikai) since 2023. Here, too, the districts function as
constituencies: the East District as a five-mandate constituency, the
South District as a four-mandate constituency, the Jōnan-ku elects two
MPs, and the other four districts are three-mandate constituencies. The
prefectural parliament is also elected in a single electoral cycle.
For the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national
parliament, the city of Fukuoka is in constituencies 1 to 3 of the
prefecture, and constituency 3 also includes the neighboring western
city of Itoshima. All three constituencies have been represented by
Liberal Democrats since 2012, namely Takahiro Inoue (47.5% in the 2021
election), Makoto Oniki (46.0% in 2021) and Atsushi Koga (57.9% in
2021). Small parts of the city of Fukuoka have been part of the Fukuoka
5 constituency since 2017. After the constituencies are reorganized
again in 2022, the city will also extend into the Fukuoka 4 constituency
in the next general election.
According to a study from 2014, the greater Fukuoka area generated a
gross domestic product of 193.3 billion US dollars (GDP). In the ranking
of the world's strongest metropolitan regions, it was ranked 58th and
4th in Japan behind Tokyo, Osaka-Kobe and Nagoya. The GDP per capita was
34,822 US dollars.
Fukuoka is connected to the JR railway network
with the San'yō Shinkansen (Hakata station), and there are numerous
other JR lines for local and long-distance traffic. The only private
railway in Fukuoka is Nishi-Nippon Tetsudō (West Japan Railway,
Nishitetsu for short), which operates two lines. The Kyūshū highway
connects Fukuoka with other regions in Japan. There is a toll city
highway within the city. Fukuoka Airport is very close to the city
center, just two subway stops from Hakata Central Station. The port
offers, among other things, a connection by hydrofoil and a large ferry
(Camellia Liner) to Busan in South Korea and various ferry connections
to smaller Japanese islands.
After the tram was closed at the end
of the 1970s, the city of Fukuoka pushed ahead with the construction of
the Fukuoka subway. There are also numerous bus lines in the city area,
most of which are operated by the Nishi-Nippon Tetsudō company.
Fukuoka is one of the most important cities for secondary schools and
universities on Kyushu.
One of the oldest and most prestigious
universities in Japan is the University of Kyushu, which emerged in 1911
from a medical school founded in 1903 as an offshoot of the Imperial
University of Kyoto and played an important role in the modernization of
the country as one of the seven imperial universities. In 1916, American
Baptists founded a middle school, which over the decades developed into
the Seinan Gakuin University. Fukuoka University, founded in 1934, is
the largest private university in western Japan.
Baseball:
Since 1989, Fukuoka has been home to the Fukuoka
SoftBank Hawks (until 2004: Fukuoka Daiei Hawks) from the Pacific
League. In 1993, the newly built Fukuoka Dome became their home stadium.
From 1950 to 1978, the Nishitetsu Lions - initially known as the
Clippers - were based at the Heiwadai baseball stadium in the Chūō-ku
district of Fukuoka.
Football: Fukuoka is the home of the Avispa
Fukuoka football club.
Rugby Union: The Level-5 Stadium was one of
the venues for the 2019 Rugby Union World Cup.
Swimming: Fukuoka
hosted the 2001 World Aquatics Championships. The 2021 World Cup was
also awarded to the city.
Sumo: The two-week Kyūshū Basho begins here
every second Sunday in November.