Industrial Heritages in Kitakyushu

 

Kitakyushu-city  is the industrial innovation city where a lot of Japan’s Industries were born

and Japan’s industrial modernization has been achieved.

The city presents various Industrial Heritages including UNESCO World Herigate

of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution.

 

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First Head Office of the Steel Works  UNESCO World Heritage

Built in 1899, ahead of production facilities.

It is an architectural fusion of Japanese and European design, a two story red brick building

with bilateral symmetry and a central dome set in a Japanese tile roof.

 

World leading rails producing in the Steel Works

First Head Office building registered on the World Heritage

Observation deck of the World Heritage

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Onga River Pump Station, UNESCO World Heritage

Built in 1910 on the east bank of the Onga River.
It served, and still serves, to deliver industrial water to Yawata via an 11.4 km pipeline.

This supply is integral to the steel production process and was necessary to cope with the 

1st phase expansion of the Imperial Steel Works.

 

Onga River

Onga River Pump Station

Water piping to the Steel Works

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Kawachi Reservoir 

The first-class civil construction heritage that triggered the registration of

World Cultural Heritage of Meiji Japan’s Industrial Revolution.

The Kawachi Reservoir was constructed for the industrial water supply to Yawata Steel Works. 

 

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Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge

This shape and colour really harmonize with nature and become a symbol of the Iron town Yahata.

 

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Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace

The Blast Furnace used to make the pig iron and was where Japan’s steel industry began in 1901.

It contributed greatly to the development of the Japanese steel industry and was used until 1972,

and has been preserved just as it was.

 

Indication of the year of Steel Works operation commencement

Proper of Blast furnace, Hot Stoves and Stack

Cast house floor, the pig iron is being discharged

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Dedicated railway for Yawata Steel Works 

Connected between Yawata and Tobata.

Construction work took three years, and completed in 1930. The most difficult and hard work

was making Miyatayama tunnel with a total length of 1180 m due to suffering from floods.

The gates of the Miyatayama tunnel are decorated with stately designs.

 

The rail way crossing the road

Miyatayama tunnel Yahata side

Miyatayama tunnel Tobata side

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Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery Studio

 

Museum of Industrial Technology

In April 2007, based on this theme of “innovation,” the Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery & Studio

(KIGS) opened in Yahata, Higashida, the first site of steel manufacturing in Japan’s modern age. 

Various things related Industry technologies are exhibited ;

Exhibition Gallery shows items on the theme of technology development World Heritage Gallery

shows items related Meiji Japan’s industrial Revolution. At the adjacent workshop building,

manufacturing experience can be done.

 

Museum Building

World Heritage, Meiji Japan’s Industry Revolution

Introducing Industry innovation history of Japan

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 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

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 General information  

 

Address	2-2-11 Higashida, Yahata-higashi, Kitakyushu-city, Fukuoka-prefecture
Access	5 minutes walk from JR Space World Station
Open hours	9:00 to 19:00 weekdays 9:00 to 17:00 Sataurday, Sunday and National holiday
Admission fee	No admission fee is required
Days closed	evey Monday

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Featured tous in Fukuoka-prefecture

・ Fukuoka-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kawachi Wisteria garden & Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour          

・ Kitakyushu-city study tour       

・ Kitakyushu-city hiking tour

・ Yanagawa & Dazaifu one-day tour

・ Itoshima one-day tour

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Toho village, Asakura and Ukiha one-day tour

・ Yoshii & Yanagawa Hina doll festival one-day tour

・ Kurume & Yame region one-day tour

 

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Study tours to Kyushu

 

We are offering the Study tours for Schools, Universities, companies and any other groups.

Furthermore, we are also providing the excursion tours for the customers of International

conferences and company visit.

The places for the Study tours are Kitakyushu-city, Fukuoka-city and Nagasaki-city.

We have various themes of study such as Environment, Solid Waste management, Industry,

Science, Geography, Architecture, Economy, Christianity in Japan as well as World Peace. 

 

We are providing the Study tour as a package including the planning, arrangement of visiting

places, tour conductor and interpreter, transportation and accommodations.

 

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What to learn

We are offering various type of study tour utilizimg the following learning resources, environment

and historical aspects.

Feature of our study tour is the tailor-made in accordance with customer requirement of learning.  

 

 

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First Head Office of the Steel Works

 

 UNESCO World Heritage, Site of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution  

The four sites of Yawata Steel Works in Kitakyushu area have been inscribed 

as Iron and Steel Industry.

Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining, are a grouping of historic sites that played

an important part in the industrialization of Japan in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.

 

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 First Head Office of the Steel Works 

Built in 1899, ahead of production facilities.

It is an architectural fusion of Japanese and European design, a two story red brick building

with bilateral symmetry and a central dome set in a Japanese tile roof.

 

World leading rails producing in the Steel Works

First Head Office building registered on the World Heritage

Observation deck of the World Heritage

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 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

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Featured tous in Fukuoka-prefecture  

・ Fukuoka-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kawachi Wisteria garden & Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour          

・ Kitakyushu-city study tour       

・ Kitakyushu-city hiking tour

・ Yanagawa & Dazaifu one-day tour

・ Itoshima one-day tour

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Toho village, Asakura and Ukiha one-day tour

・ Yoshii & Yanagawa Hina doll festival one-day tour

・ Kurume & Yame region one-day tour

 

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 Contact us   

Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace

 

 

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Featured tous in Fukuoka-prefecture  

・ Fukuoka-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kawachi Wisteria garden & Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour          

・ Kitakyushu-city study tour

・ Kitakyushu-city hiking tour

・ Yanagawa & Dazaifu one-day tour

・ Itoshima one-day tour

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Toho village, Asakura and Ukiha one-day tour

・ Yoshii & Yanagawa Hina doll festival one-day tour

・ Kurume & Yame region one-day tour

 

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UNESCO World Heritages in Kyushu

 

We have four UNESCO World Heritages in Kyushu.

Those sites are located all over Kyushu.

 

・ Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution   registered in 2015

 

・ Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region   registered in 2018

 

・ The Sacred Island Okinoshiam and Associated site

　 in the Munakata region     registered in 2017

 

・ Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan   registered in 2016

 

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 Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution 

Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining, are a grouping of historic sites that played

an important part in the industrialization of Japan in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods.

Location of the site : Kitakyushu, Nakama, Saga, Omuta, Arao, Misumi, Nagasaki, Kagoshima

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Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

Hidden Christian Site in Nagasaki Regions bear unique testimony to the tradition of people and

their communities who secretly transmitted their faith in Christianity while surviving in the midst

of the conventional society and its religions during the time of prohibition.

Location of the sites : Nagasaki, Shimabara, Amakusa

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The Sacred Island Okinoshiam and Associated site in the Munakata  

The island of Okinoshima is located sougonnni in the ocean between Japan and Korea, 

As even landing on the island has been prohibited, the strict taboos have preserved archaeological

ritural sites on the island almost intact over a millennium.In three shrines of Munakata Taisha, located

in the islands of Okinshima, Oshima and Kyushu.  From Okitsu-miya Yohaisho on Oshima, we can

worship Okinoshima from afar. And Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group is the evidence of people

who nurtured the tradition of worshipping the sacred island.

Location of the sites : Munakata, Fukutsu, Oshima

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Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan  

In cities and towns throughout Japan, float festivals are held by communities annually to pray

to the gods for peace and protection from natural disasters.

Location of the site : Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Hita, Karatsu, Yatsushiro

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Featured tours related to UNESCO World Heritage Sites  

・ Kitakyushu / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour          

・ Nagasaki / UNESCO Industrial Revolution one-day tour       

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Nagasaki / UNESCO Hidden Christian sites one-day tour

・ Nagasaki / UNESCO Hidden Christian sites 3 days tour

・ Amakusa / UNESCO Hidden Christian sites 2 days tour

 

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Kitakyushu travel guide

 

Kitakyushu is the second largest city in Kyushu with a population of 940,000.

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Featured Tourist Destinations  

Kokura  

Kokura Castle	Kokura Castle Garden	River Walk Kitakyushu
Kitakyushu’s land mark, walking distance of Kokura Stations	Former site of lord’s guest house located next to Kokura Castle	A large commercial facility near   Murasaki River & Kokura Castle

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Tanga market	Uomachi & Kyumachi	Manga Museum
A typical Japanese market,  the kitchen of Kitakyushu-city	A down town arcade shopping streets to JR Kokura Station	introduces the history of manga with a focus on artists who have affiliations to Kitakyushu

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Moji  

Mojiko Retro The exotic district, developed  as International trading Port

Kanmon bridge The suspended bridge crossing the Kanmon Straits

Konamon Pedstrian tunnel Only the place in the world, can be crossed the strait on foot

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Higashida & Industrial Heritages  

Higashida district Birth place of Steel Making Industry in Japan

First Head Office UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Built in 1899, ahead of production facilities

Higashida No.1 B. F. It contributed greatly to the  development of the Japanese steel industry and was used until 1972

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Yahata port Japan’s Modern Steel Works history started here.

Kurogane Railway Dedicated railway for Yawata Steel Works connected between  Yawata and Tobata.

Innovation Gallery theme of “innovation,” the  Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery & Studio opened in Yahata, Higashida

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Kawachi Reservoir The first-class civil construction  heritage. The triggered the  registration of UNESCO World   Heritage.

Minami Kawachi bridge The only remaining lenticular  truss bridge in Japan ( lens type truss bridge)

Onga River Pump Station Built in 1910 on the east bank of the Onga River. It deliver the industrial water to Yawata via an  11.4 km pipeline.

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Nature  

The city is blessed with spectacular & stunning natural feature, about 960,000 people are living

in the area spreding in river basins where surounding Sea and mountains.

The coastline belongs to Seto Inland Sea National Park and Genkai Sea Quasi-National Park

and also the city has Kitakyushu Quasi-National Park. 

Mount Sarakura The best scenic beauty spot in Kitakyushu-city

Hiraodai Karst plateau One of the three largest karst plateau in Japan

Kawachi Wisteria Garden  Selected as a beautiful place of the real world 10

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Study tours to Kitakyushu   

The city of Kitakyushu is the birthplace of the modern Japanese steel industry which began

operation in 1901, and is now the world’s leading environmental future city.

Now it is called industrial and environmental city which is representative of Japan.

Therefore the various things can be learn here.

 

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Feautured tours

Fukuoka-prefecture tours

・ Fukuoka-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kawachi Wisteria garden & Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour        

・ Kitakyushu-city study tour       

・ Kitakyushu-city hiking tour

・ Yanagawa & Dazaifu one-day tour

・ Itoshima one-day tour

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Toho village, Asakura and Ukiha one-day tour

・ Yoshii & Yanagawa Hina doll festival one-day tour

・ Kurume & Yame region one-day tour

Kyushu Round tours

・ 11 days Kyushu tour

・ 8 days Northern & Central Kyushu tour

・ 8 days Southern Kyushu tour

・ 6 days North-West Kyushu tour

・ 7 days Central Kyushu tour

・ 6 days North-Eest Kyushu tour

 

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Tour results

We are offering a lot of tours, and the results is shown below.

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 Tailor-made tours & Self-guided tours       Study tours       Golf tours 

 

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Sone Tideland

 

Sone tideland facing the Seto Inland Sea from Sone, in Kitakyushu-city and is one of the

largest tideland in the Seto Inland Sea ; it is about 5 km offshore with an area of about 517 ha.

The tideland is the home to some 326 species of benthic animals in the tidal flat, including a

handful of endangered species, like the ancient horseshoe crab that has not changed since the

age of dinosaurs. Several endangered birds are seen during the summer, like the Saunders’s

Gulls, Eastern Marsh Harrier, and the Intermediate Egret.

Horseshoe Raising house, the ecology of the horseshoe can be learn here.

 

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 Contact us   

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Geography learning in Kitakyushu-city

 

Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants,

and phenomena of Earth.

Kitakyushu has unique geographical features, therefore Earth and its human and natural

complexities and also how they have changed and come to be can be learned.

 

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Hiraodai karst plateau 

 

One of the three largest in Japan along with the Akiyoshi-dai Plateau and the Shikoku Karst. 

It is located in southeastern part of Kitakyushu-city. 

At altitudes between 400 and 600 meters above sea level and stretching 6 km from north to south

and 2 km from east to west.  

 

Hiraodai Limestone Caves 

There are three limestone Caves in Hiraodai Karst and each cave has different unique feature. 

 

Senbutsu limestone cave

Literally means 1,000 Buddha Cave, is the largest of the caves in Hiraodai Last Plateau,

extending about 900 m while meandering toward the northeast. The shape of the cave is narrow,

narrow ceiling ravine with a maximum width of 10 m and a maximum ceiling height of 15 m.

Approximately 30 large and small stalactites hang down at the entrance, giving a spectacular scenery. Abundant groundwater still continues to erode in the cave.​

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Mejiro limestone Cave

It is the longest cave in Hiraodai Karst, over 2 km in length.

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Ojika limestone cave

The cave is called footfall of dinosaurs.  It is the very rare cave in Japan; the entrance is vertical

pit with 25 meter, when getting down to the bottom, you follow the underground horizontal cave

and you can see the hidden aspects of Hiraodai Karst.

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Hirotani Wetland

It is the only wetland in Fukuoka Prefecture, located 600 meters west from Seiryu Cave and

2,500 m east from Hiraodai Nature Observation Center. The wetland is an important part of 

Hiraodai Karst landform, offering a variety of wetland plant life such as the Sagiso (rein orchis),

Tokiso (pogonia), and Nohanasyobu (iris).​

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Sone Tideland

Sone tideland facing the Seto Inland Sea from Sone, in Kitakyushu-city and is one of the

largest tideland in the Seto Inland Sea ; it is about 5 km offshore with an area of about 517 ha.

The tideland is the home to some 326 species of benthic animals in the tidal flat, including a

handful of endangered species, like the ancient horseshoe crab that has not changed since the

age of dinosaurs. Several endangered birds are seen during the summer, like the Saunders’s

Gulls, Eastern Marsh Harrier, and the Intermediate Egret.

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Hibikinada Biotope

Japan’s largest Biotope, the Pradise of creatures made over the year in the waste disposal site.   

237 kind of birds including circus spinouts listed on the Japan’s endangered species and 284 kind

of vegetation have been confirmed in the Biotope of 41 hectares.

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 Contact us   

Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge

 

 Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge  

 

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 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

 

Featured tous in Fukuoka-prefecture  

・ Fukuoka-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kawachi Wisteria garden & Kitakyushu-city one-day tour

・ Kitakyushu-city / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour          

・ Kitakyushu-city study tour       

・ Kitakyushu-city hiking tour

・ Yanagawa & Dazaifu one-day tour

・ Itoshima one-day tour

・ Munakata & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour  

・ Munakata, Oshiama & Okinoshima / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

・ Toho village, Asakura and Ukiha one-day tour

・ Yoshii & Yanagawa Hina doll festival one-day tour

・ Kurume & Yame region one-day tour

 

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