Kitakyushu Transportation

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The New Kitakyushu Airport, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu.

It is the first airport in Japan to operate virtually round the clock (21 hours out of 24).
Connections between the city of Kitakyushu and Tokyo have been greatly strengthened thanks to this airport, including business trips and sightseeing in both directions.

[Back to Kitakyushu]

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Kitakyusyu Urban Monorail, is a train which runs the center in Kitakyushu from JR Kokura Station through Kikugaoka.

It is convenient to use Kitakyusyu Urban Monorail, if you go to Kokura Hose Racing Curse or Kokura Bicycle Racing Course.

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‚s‚ˆ‚‰s is not the UFO, this is a pleasure boat called Voyager, cruise on the Kanmon Strait area.

-Board at Mojiko Port Retro District
-Journey time : 60 minutes
-Boarding fare : JPY1000 for an adult, JPY500 for a child

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Hankyu Ferry, the long distance ferry operates from Shin-Moji in Kitakyusyu to Kobe in Hyogo-Prefecture and Izumiotsu in Osaka.

For Kobe, 12-hour cruise
Departure time at Shin- Moji is 18h30 and arrival time at Kobe is 06h30 the following day

For Izumiotsu, 12-hour cruise
Departure time at Shin- Moji is 17h30 and arrival time at Izumiotsu is 05h30 the following day

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The Ferry between Kokura in Kitakyusyu and Matsuyama in Ehime is operated by Kansai-Kisen.

Time table
Kokura : 21h55 to Matsuyama : 05h00 (the following day)
Matsuyama : 21h55 to Kokura : 05h99 (the following day)

The Shinkansen is by far the most convenient way to travel around Japan. Unfortunately it isn't very cheap! Luckily there is a Japan JR Rail Pass available to foreign travellers. See the JR East website for details:

It must be bought abroad and stamped in Japan before you can use it. There are several options including one week (unlimited JR travel except for the super fast Nozomi service), two week, JR East and JR West passes. Check with your local travel agent for the best option or click on the link to see for yourself!

Here is a link to a very cool page that lets you see the routing between cities/stations/ports within Japan. It will tell you the route and includes the cost and time. http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/.

You can arrive from overseas through Fukuoka Airport (or get a connecting flight to Kitakyushu Airport from Tokyo).
Kitakyushu is also connected to the Shinkansen network and is about 5-hours from Tokyo.

As I said before, Kitakyushu is a spread out city but luckily there is a great transportation system. Kitakyushu has a Shinkansen station in Kokura (connects south to Fukuoka and north to Honshu.
The local train (also express (kaisoku) and super express (tokyuu) trains are available) runs from Moji-ko all the way through Kitakyushu and down past Fukuoka City. The trains are all run by JR Kyushu but there is a street car available from Kurosaki station that goes to Nogata City. The street car is run by Nishitetsu who also run most of the buses in Kitakyushu.

In Kyushu you should pay 500 Yen for a 'Nice Going Card' which gives you a 40% discount on return train tickets all over Kyushu (on Limited Express Trains) on the weekends and Fridays. There are regular trains running all over Kyushu.

JR Kyushu also market a Kyushu Rail Pass which can only be bought overseas. The cost is 15,000 Yen for a 5 day pass and 20,000 Yen for a 7 day pass. It is only valid for local and limited express trains in Kyushu and not JR buses or the Shinkansen that runs from Fukuoka.

The Chikuho Dentstsu is a Tram/Train line that runs from Kurosaki Station to destinations in Yahata-Nishi Ku. I used it frequently to get to my two Junior High Schools. They were located at Einomaru and Sangamori Stations.