Fukuoka

The gateway to Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu is the city of Fukuoka. With a population of 1.2 million, Fukuoka is Kyushu’s largest city and until just a few months ago was the southern terminus of the Shinkansen or “bullet train” system. However, on March 12 a new line connecting (July 17, 2011) Fukuoka and Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu was opened thereby providing Shinkansen service from Aomori at the northern tip of the main island of Honshu to Kagoshima, a distance of just over 1300 miles. Fukuoka is Japan’s closest major city to the Asian mainland and for this reason was where the Mongol forces of Kublai Kahn attempted to invade Japan in 1274. Japan was able to repel the invasion but a few years later Khan attempted a second invasion. About the time the invading forces were scheduled to land, a typhoon struck destroying the entire Mongol fleet. At that time in Fukuoka’s history there were two cities separated by the Naka River; Fukuoka, an old castle town, on one side and Hakata, the merchant’s town, across the river. When rail service came to that area the train station was in Hakata. When the two cities were consolidated in 1889, the new city was called Fukuoka, but the train station continued to be called Hakata Station. Today, 122 years later, the station is still Hakata Station in the City of Fukuoka. My wife and I used their excellent subway system last fall to go from Hakata Station to Ohori Station to visit the beautiful Japanese Garden at Ohori Park.