Dec. 28, 2012
Hakata Station area attracts people with new and old landmarks
Hakata Station is the main land gate to Kyushu, southwestern Japan, but the station area and its vicinity are filled with not just modern structures but also old, scenic landmarks. Centuries-old Buddhist temples can be found on alleys just behind tall office buildings and hotels a few blocks to the west from the station.
Tochoji Temple is the most famous of more than 10 temples located in the area. The temple consists of a main hall, a building that houses a 10-meter-high wooden Buddha statue, a red five-story tower and a graveyard for the Kuroda “daimyo” family which ruled the northern part of Fukuoka from the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century.
Tochoji, whose history dates back to the ninth century in the Heian era, is a main feature of a tourist course which covers the old quarter of Hakata, the town which emerged from a port city more than 10 centuries ago. Hakata is also the name for the eastern half of the core Fukuoka City area. (A related story can be found in the post released on July 17, 2011.)
When visitors enter a quiet street next to Tochoji Temple, they can find the white long wall and the main gate of Shofukuji Temple, a temple built at an Emperor’s behest late in the 12th century. Shofukuji is also known as the first zen temple built in Japan.
The station building was completely renovated from 2007 to early 2011, in time for the full opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train services. A new station building, launched for business in March 2011, has 10 stories and three underground floors. As Hakata Station accommodates about 180,000 passengers a day, the building is a new landmark not just for Fukuoka City, with a population of about 1.5 million, but also for the western part of Japan. With 180,000 square meters of floor space for commercial use, the building has accepted one of Japan’s best known department store chains as its core tenant.
Various attractions and decorations are provided almost throughout the year to entertain visitors, passengers and passers-by, among them extensive night illuminations.
Because Fukuoka is geographically close to China and Korea, the city has made various efforts to attract many tourists from China and other neighboring Asian countries. Tourist businesses in Fukuoka have been hurt by a sharp decline in the number of Chinese tourists this year amid political tension between Japan and China over a territorial dispute, but the new station building, coupled with the old temples in the surrounding areas, is expected to make the city more attractive to tourists from now on.
