Munakara & Fukutsu / UNESCO Sacred region one-day tour

 

Munakata and Fukutsu are located in the west part of Fukuoka-prefecture and

facing to Genkai Sea.

The Sacred Island Okinoshiam and Associated site in the Munakata Region

has been registered on the UNESCO Wlorld Heritage in 2016.

This tour introduce UNESCO World Heritage and related places in Munakata and Fukutsu.

 

---

 

Location of Munakata & Fukutsu

　 

 

---

 

Tour conditions 

The tour is the private tour exclusively for your group.

・Minimum number : 2 person

・Maxum number : 30 person

・Tour date : please specify the date

・Chartered vehicle is utilized as per number of person.

   (1) less than 8 person

    　a chartered taxi is used with English speaking driver

    　English speaking driver assist the tour as tour guide and tour attendant

   (2) more than 9 person

　　a chartered bus is used with Japanese speaking driver

　　English speaking guide who also works as a tour attendant is accompanied

   　for assist the tour in the case of using a chartered bus

 

---

 

Itinerary  

9:00 Depart Fukuoka-city

Transfer to Munakata

Exploring Munakata

　Munakata Shrine Hetsu-gu → Takamiya Saijo

　Lunch at Munakata

Transfer Fukutsu

Exploring Fukutsu

   Shinbaru-Nuyama Mounted Tombs →　Miyajidake Shrine →　Sake Brewery

Transfer to Fukuoka-city

17:00 Arrive  Fukuoka-city

 

---

 

Where to explore

Munakata Shrine Hetsu-gu  / UNESCO World Heritage

Hetsu-gu is one of the three shrines that comprise Munakata Shrine and enshrines

Ichikishimahime-no-Kami, one of the three female deities of Munakata.  Visitors passing

through the torii gate and proceeding along the path will find the Main Hall, dedicated to

Ichikishimahime-no-Kami, beyond the Shinmon gate. 

Torii Gate

Entrance

Shrine main building

---

 

Takamiya Saijo

The steps lead to Takamiya Saijo (Ceremonial Site), where ancient rituals were performed.
Takamiya Saijo is very important since the rituals currently observed at Hetsu-gu originated there.
To the northwest of the ceremonial site, visitors can view the marine route linking Hetsu-gu with

Okinoshima via the Tsurikawa River, Oshima, and finally across the Genkai Sea.

Entrance of Takamiya Saijo

Worship at Takamiya Saijo

Takamiya Saijo Japan’s oldest  Ancient style Shrine

---

 

Shinbaru-Nuyama Mounted Tombs  / UNESCO World Heritage

The Tomb Group comprises the tombs of the Munakata clan, an ancient powerful family that led

interactions with overseas countries. The Munakata clan also performed rituals on Okinoshima

and nurtured the tradition of faith in in the sacred island.

---

 

Miyajidake Shrine

The Shimenawa is the biggest in Japan.

Surprisingly, weight is 3ton, with 2.6m diameter and 11m length.

Shimenawa is the thick, twisted, straw rope. It was believed in ancient days that a Shimenawa

had the power to keep off evil sprits, so many objects connected with Shinto Shrines decorated.

---

 

Sake Brewery, Katsuya Shuzo

Katsuya Shuzo is a renown local Sake brewery has long history, established in 1790.

The Goshinshu or dedicated Sake to deity for Munakata Shrine is being made this Brewey.

Recommended Sake are Okinoshina, Naranoki and Genkainada.

---

 

Contact us

 

Tour results

We are offering various types of tours, and the tour results up to now are shown links below.

Tailor-made tour      Study tour       Golf tour 

 

---

 

Kitakyushu / UNESCO Industry Revolution one-day tour

 

Kitakyushu-city is the birth place of Steel Making Industry in Japan and contributed

greatly to the development of the Japanese industry modernization.

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

UNESCO World Heritage as Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution in 2015.

 

And also, Kitakyushu-city is leading World environment as the Environmental Future

City selected by Japanese Government and also designated as the first ‘ Model City

for Green Growth ‘ in Asia by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD) in 2011.

This tour introduce how Kitakyushu-city contributed to Japan’s industrial modernization

with unprecedented speed in the world and also the history to Environmental Future

City can be learned while visiting World Heritage sites and related Industry Heritages.

 

---

 

 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

 

---

 

Tour conditions 

The tour is the private tour exclusively for your group.

・Minimum number : 2 person

・Maxum number : 30 person

・Tour date : please specify the date

・Chartered vehicle is utilized as per number of person.

   (1) less than 8 person

    　a chartered taxi is used with English speaking driver

    　English speaking driver assist the tour as tour guide and tour attendant

   (2) more than 9 person

　　a chartered bus is used with Japanese speaking driver

　　English speaking guide who also works as a tour attendant is accompanied

   　for assist the tour in the case of using a chartered bus

 

---

 

Itinerary  

8:00 Depart Fukuoka-city

Transfer to Kitakyushu-city using Kyushu Expressway, 1 hours 

Visite World Heritage and related site in Kitakyushu

 Kitakyushu Innovation Gallery Studio   →　Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace

 First Head Office the Steel Works  UNESCO World Heritage

Lunch at Otani-kaikan Hall

Kawachi Reservoir  →　Minami Kawachi bridge

Onga River Pump Station　UNESCO World Heritage

Transfer to Fukuoka-cuty

18:00 Arrive at Fukuoka-city

 

---

 

Where to visit  

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, 

where Japan’s mordern steel industry operation was started. 

Museum Building

World Heritage, Meiji Japan’s Industry Revolution

Introducing Industry innovation history of Japan

---

 

Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace

The only one in the world, the Blast Furnace which was actually used until 1972, is preserved

as it was.   This place is the birth place of Japan’s modern steel industry began in 1901 and It

contributed greatly to the development of the Japanese steel industry.

---

 

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

---

 

Otani-kaikan Hall

Built in 1927, opened as an employee club of the then-owned Yawata Steel Works

The western-style building of Art Deco style architecture. 
The Hall building received the Kitakyushu City Architectural Culture Award in 1989. 

---

 

Kawachi Reservoir

The reservoir for supplying water to Yawata Steel Works; the construction took 8 years and was

completed in 1927.  The concept of the designer Hisanori Numata was “Civil engineering is an

eternal monument”. The Dam in harmony with nature, is imaged European Castle and  

the volume 7milion cubic metre reservoir.

---

 

 Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge

---

 

Onga River Pump Station

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

---

 

 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

---

 

 

---

 

Tour results

We are offering various types of tours, and the tour results up to now are shown links below. 

Tailor-made tour      Study tour       Golf tour 

 

---

 

Amakusa / UNESCO Hidden Christian sites 2 days tour

 

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region 

has been registered on  UNESCO World Heritage in 2018

Japanese Christianity has a long history of continuing faith while coexisting with Japanese traditional religion

Shinto and General society.

Japan’s unique practice of the Christian faith continued even during the ban on Christianity.

Hidden Christian Site in Nagasaki,  Shimabara and Amakusa 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.

 

Amakusa is the birthplace of Amakusa Shiro who was the leader of Shimabara

Rebellion occurred in Shimabara in 1637.

And there are two World Heritage sites in Amakusa ; Oe Cathedral and Sakitsu Village.

 

The tour introduces how Christians have been continued their faith since Christianity was

propagated to Japan, by visiting Hidden Christian sites in Amakusa in Kumamoto-prefecture.

 

---

 

 Location of Amakusa

　　

 

 

---

 

Tour conditions

The tour is the private tour exclusively for your group.

・Minimum number : 4 person

・Maxum number : 30 person

・Tour date : please specify the date

・Chartered vehicle is utilized as per number of person.

   (1) less than 8 person

    　a chartered taxi is used with English speaking driver

    　English speaking driver assist the tour as tour guide and tour attendant

   (2) more than 9 person

　　a chartered bus is used with Japanese speaking driver

　　English speaking guide who also works as a tour attendant is accompanied

   　for assist the tour in the case of using a chartered bus

・Accommodations is selected as per your required grade, room conditions and budget

    and the location is considered sightseeing, dinner and nightlife as well.

 

---

 

 Day 1  

 

Itinerary

8:00 Depart   Fukuoka-city

Transfer to  Amakusa via Kumamoto ( 3 hours )

Travel Amakusa Gokyo / Pearl line

Visit Amakusa Shiro Memorial Hall

Visit UNESCO World Heritage sites : Oe Cathedral , Sakitsu Village

Stay at Amakusa

 

---

 

Where to explore

Amakusa Gokyo / Pearl line

Amakusa Gokyo or Amakusa five bridges, is a general term for five bridges which connects from

Misumi at the Udo peninsula to the Oyano island, the Nagaura island, Ikejima, Maejima, and

Amakusa Kamishima, was built in 1966. The area on the National road route 266 called as the Pearl Line.

First Bridge

Second Bridge

Fourth Bridge

---

 

Amakusa Shiro Memorial Hall

The theme Museum shows History of Christianity in Amakusa and Shimabara Rebellion

in Harajo Castle Ruins which was a peasant uprising agaist bakufu’s persecution of Christians

under the leadership of Amakusa Shiro in 1637.

---

 

Oe Cathedral / UNESCO World Heritage

The oldest Catholic Church in Amakusa and was one of the first churches built right after the ban

on Christianity was lifted. The and Romanesque-style architecture and the chalky white structure

was rebuilt in 1933 by a French missionary priest named Father Garnier using his own money and

contributions from local Christians living in the area.

---

 

Sakitsu Village  / UNESCO World Heritage

A Gothic-looking church is located on a cove of a fishing village. In 1934, a French priest

Augustin Halbout MEP purchased the premises of the former village headman and built a

wooden and concrete finished church, with Tetsukawa Yosuke’s design and construction.

He placed the altar at the very site where fumie or a test to ensure non-allegiance to

Christianity had been conducted.

---

 

 Day 2  

 

Itinerary

Leave Hotel in Amakusa

Exploring Amakusa

 Tomioka Castle Ruins , Matushima area

Amakusa Cruise

Transfer to  Fukuoka-city

17:00 Arrive at Fukuoka-city

 

---

 

Where to explore

Tomioka Castle Ruins

Tomioka Castle was built in 1602, one year after Terasawa Shimanokami hirotaka came to Amakusa.

Although Amakusa ruled by proxy for Terasawa from Tomioka Castle, he revelled with his army in

the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637. After the rebellion, Yamasaki Kainokami Ieharu ruled from the castle,

and which was restored and enlarged to its present form. 

---

 

Amakusa Cruise

Connecting the islands of Amakusa with the inland of Kumamoto via the Uto Peninsula are

Amakusa Gokyo or Amakusa Five Bridge. You can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Amakusa

from the sea on a cruise.

---

 

Exploring featured sites

Sengan moutain Observatory

Ariage Octopus Street

Oppai Stone or breast stone

---

 

Contact us  

 

Tour results

We are offering various types of tours, and the tour results up to now are shown links below.        

 Tailor-made tour       Study tour       Golf tour 

 

---

 

UNESCO World Heritage / Onga River Pump Station

 

Onga River Pump Station

 

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.

 

The site has been registered on the UNESCO World Heritage,

Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution 

 

Onga River

Onga River Pump Station

Water piping to the Steel Works

---

 

 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

---

 

General information 

Address	1-3-1 Dotenouchi, Nakana-city, Fukuoka-prefecture
Access	40 minutes by a vehicle from JR Kokura Station 60 minutes by a vehicle from Fukuoka-city

---

 

Contact us

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.

 

---

 

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

---

 

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

---

 

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. 

 

---

 

Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge

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

 

---

 

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

---

 

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

---

 

 

---

 

Oe Cathedral Amakusa

 

The oldest Catholic Church in Amakusa and was one of the first churches built

right after the ban on Christianity was lifted. The and Romanesque-style architecture and

the chalky white structure was rebuilt in 1933 by a French missionary priest named Father

Garnier using his own money and contributions from local Christians living in the area.

 

---

 

 Location of Amakusa

　　

 

---

 

General information  

Address	1782 Oe Amakusa-cho, Amakusa-city, Kumamoto-prefecture
Access	by Car 2 hours 50 minutes from Kumamoto-city 60 minutes from Amakusa Airport
Open hours	9:00 to 17:00
Admission fee	No fee is required
Days closed	No closing days

---

 

 

---

 

Sakitsu Village

 

Registered on UNESCE World Heritage as Hidden Christian site

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

 

A Gothic-looking church is located on a cove of a fishing village. In 1934, a French priest

Augustin Halbout MEP purchased the premises of the former village headman and built a

wooden and concrete finished church, with Tetsukawa Yosuke’s design and construction.

He placed the altar at the very site where fumie or a test to ensure non-allegiance to

Christianity had been conducted.

 

---

 

 Location of Amakusa

　　

 

---

 

General information  

Address	539 SAkitsu Kawazu-cho, Amakusa-city, Kumamoto-prefecture
Access	by Car 2 hours 40 minutes from Kumamoto-city 45 minutes from Amakusa Airport
Church Open hours	9:00 to 17:00
Admission fee	No fee is required
Days closed	No closing days

---

 

 

---

 

Kawachi Reservoir

 

The first-class civil construction heritage

The triggered the registration of World Cultural Heritage of Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial

Revolution 

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

Steel Works. The dam was constructed at the Okura River and upper stream of the

dam was expanded and making the 7milion cubic metre reservoir.

 

 Specification of the dam  

・completion year : 1927

・height : 43.1 metre 
・Width : 189 metre

In the construction of the dam, the unprecedented design in the world has been applied 

in order to harmonize with nature and to save the construction cost. The stones come

out from the mountain when the river was expanded have been utilized for construction

of the dam.

 

All stones are cut into sizes and shapes by the stone technicians  according to the

place of use.  The large size stone were used at the main construction of the dam

and the small size stones were used for other places as per size and shape.

Construction was started in 1919 and was completed in1927 by 900 thousand total

number of workers.

 

---

 

Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge

---

 

 Location of Kitakyushu-city

 

 

---

 

 

---

 

Kitakyushu UNESCO World Heritage / 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.

History of Industrial Revolution  

The buildings of the Imperial Steel Works, Japan at Yawata Works are the surviving

components of Asia’s first successful integrated iron and steel works: the State-run

Imperial Steel Works opened in 1901. 

It is located in the northernmost part of Fukuoka Prefecture, the north end of Kyushu, 8 km

south of Hibiki-Nada Seashore close to the continent of China. 

 

Japan’s Steel Industry Steel Works operation has commenced in 1901

Kawachi Reservoir Triggered the registration of World Cultural Heritage

Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace contributed to the development of the Japanese steel industry

Their present-day setting is still a working industrial landscape set in the southeastern

section of Yawata Works which, for over a century, has consistently maintained a leading

role in the Japanese steel industry.

 

---

 

World Heritage Sites  

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

---

 

Onga River Pump Station

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

 

---

 

Steel-framed repair workshops

Built in 1900. It was used for the fabrication and assembly of a parts and the repair of machinery used at the Steel Works.  It is the oldest existing steel-structured building in Japan and, more than 100 years later, is still a repair shop. The facility houses its original travelling crane and it is still in use for maintenance work.

---

 

Former Forge Shop

Built in 1900 using designs and steel products from the German steel manufacturer, the purpose of manufacturing forgings such as large scaled spanners, chisels, hammers and stands for machine mounting  needed for the construction of the steelworks.

---

 

General information 

---

 

Contact us  

Kagoshima travel guide

Sengan-en is the most famous garden in Kagoshima-ken, made by Shimazu lord in the 19th century

at the beautiful bayside Kinko bay. The garden contains many historic artifacts that tell of its long history.

Mount Sakurajima

Shimazu family residence

Suzumon gate

---

 

Shoko Shuseikan Modern Industrial Complex   UNESCO World Heritage

The museum of the Classics located here exhibits a various of objests related to the Shimazu

family and the Satsuma domain, introducing a Shimazu family tree chart and many other

belongings. The stone buiding which houses the collection has been desighnated on the

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

Shoko Shuseikan

Reflectaance furnace

Base of Reflectaance furnace

 

Shiroyama Park

The park is most famous for its Shiroyama Observatory with spectacular views over downtown Kagoshima, Kagoshima Bay and Sakura-jima.

Shiroyama Park

Stand at the Observatory

View from the top

---

 

View from Yoshino Park

Yunohira Observatory

Arimura Lava Observatory

---

 

Sakura-jima Ferry

The Ferry connects Kagoshima-city and Sakurajima in 15 minutes and is operated for 24 hours.

Kagoshima Port

To Sakura-jima Island

Sakura-jima Port

---

 

Cape Sata

The southernmost Cape of main land Japan at 31′ 00″ latitude. Cape Sata is home to many sub-tropical

flowers. Visitors may board a semi-submersible glass bottomed boat called the “Sata Day Go” to enjoy

coral reefs marine creatures and the underwater world.

---

 

 Location of Kagoshima

　　

 

---

 

 

---

 

Tour results

We are offering various types of tours, and the tour results up to now are shown links below.       

Tailor-made tour      Study tour       Golf tour 

 

---