Saturday 26 March 2016

Fukuoka, Japan

This is one of those cards again where I'm having slight problems with trying to identify the exact place on the card. ...or the text on the card just confuses me.. :P It says 'Hakata' on the front, but really it's Fukuoka (Hakata is a ward in Fukuoka). Anyway... This card was sent by Susanna, who was staying in Fukuoka as an exchange student last year and earlier this year (I *think* she's back in Finland now??).


Hakata-ku is a ward of the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Many of Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City's principal government, commercial, retail and entertainment establishments are located in the district. Hakata-ku is also the location of Fukuoka's main train station, Hakata Station, Fukuoka Airport and the Hakata Port international passenger ship terminal.

This card shows Fukuoka Tower among other things. Fukuoka Tower is a 234-metre tall tower located in the Momochihama area of Fukuoka, Japan. It is the tallest seaside tower in Japan. Fukuoka Tower was finished in 1989, taking a total of 14 months to build at a cost of ¥6,000,000,000 (roughly US $50,000,000 in 2015 terms). It was designed by Nikken Sekkei. Fukuoka Tower has three observation decks: one at 116 m, a café/lounge deck at 120 m, and the highest at 123 metres above the ground. The tower also has a triangular cross-section which is covered with 8000 half-mirrors. Because of this, it has been given the nickname "Mirror Sail".

Fukuoka is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan. It is the most populous city on the island, followed by Kitakyushu. It is the largest city and metropolitan area west of Keihanshin. The city was designated on April 1, 1972, by government ordinance. Greater Fukuoka, with 2.5 million people (2005 census), is part of the heavily industrialized Fukuoka–Kitakyushu zone as well as Northern Kyushu.

As of July 2011, Fukuoka is Japan's sixth largest city, having passed the population of Kyoto. Since the founding of Kyoto in 794, this marks the first time that a city west of the Kinki region has a larger population than Kyoto. In ancient times, however, the area near Fukuoka, the Chikushi region, was thought by some historians to have possibly been even more influential than the Yamato region.

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