Mastodon
Travel

Kitakyushu & Shimonoseki, Japan – Kanmon Bridge (2019)

The Kanmon Bridge (関門橋 Kanmonkyō) (Asian Highway Network ) is a suspension bridge crossing the Kanmon Straits, a stretch of water separating two of Japan’s four main islands. On the Honshū side of the bridge is Shimonoseki (下関, which contributed Kan to the name of the strait) and on the Kyūshū side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward, Moji (門司), gave the strait its mon.

The Kanmon Bridge was opened to vehicles on November 14, 1973 and connected to the Kyūshū Expressway on March 27, 1984. It is among the 50 largest suspension bridges in the world with a central length of 1,068 metres (3,504 feet).

Kitakyushu (Japanese: 北九州市 Hepburn: Kitakyūshū-shi, lit. “North Kyushu City”) is one of two designated cities in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, together with Fukuoka, with a population of just under 1 million people.

Shimonoseki (下関市 Shimonoseki-shi) is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Shimonoseki is the biggest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is at the southwestern tip of Honshu, facing the Tsushima Strait and also Kitakyushu across the Kanmon Straits.

Nicknamed the “Fugu Capital,” it is known for the locally caught pufferfish and is the largest harvester of the pufferfish in Japan.

As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 265,684 and a population density of 370 persons per km². The total area is 716.14 km².

Alo Japan.