About these below related with this Kokura Tour, I uploaded my explanations and the addresses of several official English Websites.

Fukuoka Prefecture Data -Population: 5.1 million-Latitude: 33.5°C almost the same latitude as Morocco
Kokura / River Walk Kitakyushu / TOTO Museum / Kokura Castle / Musashi Miyamoto and Kojiro Sasaki / Tanga Roofed Market Street / Nuka-daki Fish / Fried Udon Noodles / Matsumoto Reiji / Teruzushi
Kokura
It used to be the castle town of the Ogasawara Province, now it is one of the five wards in Kitakyushu City. And it is the business and commerce center in this big city with a lot of things to see like the castle, commercial complex River Walk Kitakyushu and Tanga arcaded shopping street. Kokura is also known the origin place of *fried Udon noodles.
City of Kitakyusyu Official Website: https://kitakyushu.j-server.com/LUCKKYUSHU/ns/tl.cgi/https://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/index.html?SLANG=ja&TLANG=en&XMODE=0&XCHARSET=utf-8&XJSID=0
River Walk Kitakyushu
This is the biggest commercial complex in Kitakyushu City. The building is very unique in the construction form.

River Walk Kitakyushu Official Website: https://riverwalk.co.jp/english/
TOTO Museum
The elegant museum building stands on the grounds of the company headquarter. The museum is on the second floor. It displays the history of the company and the toilet porcelain seats, and the present situation of the sanitary sewage system. You can see various kinds of toilets, old and present, displayed there, but especially, the company’s most famous product automated toilet seat is explained minutely.

TOTO Museum Official Website: https://jp.toto.com/en/knowledge/visit/museum/
Kokura Castle
The present main keep is the one reconstructed in the Syowa Era. It is very beautiful with white walls and gray roofs. It has a unique constructure of the 5th floor being larger than the 4th floor. It was called “Kara-tukuri,” Chinese style, in the Edo period. You can go up to the top floor, having a look at displays about the castle and its history on every floor and on the top floor you can have a good all-round view of Kokura town. You can also learn a story about *Musashi Miyamoto, a samurai hero.

Kokura Castle Official Website: https://www.kokura-castle.jp/overview-en/
Musashi Miyamoto and Kojiro Sasaki
The duel between the two samurai warriors on Ganryu Island in Kanmon Strait is the story often told in novels, movies, TV dramas and manga. It is one of the most popular historical stories among the Japanese people. This popularity is mostly due to the novel “Miyamoto Musashi,” written by Eiji Yoshikawa. The story has a lot of fictional episodes, but most of the Japanese people believe all of the story is historically true. The statue of the two stands in the open space in front of Kokura Castle.

Tanga Roofed Market Street
It is an old market in the middle of the developing district of Kokura. The old in the new, a kind of like this. When you enter this market, you will feel like you have come back to the past by time machine. The arcade street has not changed at all as it was built more than five years ago. Some may say it is an old street of the Syowa era. More than 120 shops are there, selling daily foods like fish, meat and vegetables. As for the dishes sold there, *nuka-daki is the specialty food. It is called “the kitchen for Kitakyusyu.”

Tanga Roofed Market Street Official Website: https://www-tangaichiba-jp.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Nuka-daki Fish
It is a fish food that is sold in Tanga Street, the most famous Nukadaki-selling place, and others in Kitakyusyu City. This traditional food dish is cooked by boiling (Taki) sardines or mackerels with soy sauce and other condiments and then seasoning and fermenting them in rice bran (Nuka).
Fried Udon Noodles
Daruma Shokudo in Kokura is thought to be the shop of origin. Now there are many shops serving Yaki-Udon in Kokura, and Kokura now calls itself the town of Yaki-Udon. It’s not a big deal to cook it, and, compared with Yaki-soba, Yaki-Udon is seasoned with more soy sauce.
Matsumoto Reiji
He is a popular manga artist. He lived in Kokura, so the town takes advantage of this to promote the community. You will see bronze statues of his manga characters at Kokura Station. He came to be one of the top manga artists because the animation of his manga Space Warship Yamato got very popular. His distinctive feature and fans’ favorite is his futuristic machine design called “Reiji Meter.” The machines have some indicator instruments in a shape of circle with scales, like chronograph watches.
*You can learn more about him at Kitakyusyu Manga Museum:
https://www.ktqmm.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/english.pdf


Teruzushi Youtube
Kokura Gion Festival
Night View from Sarakura Yama Top
