The 1958 move of Kokura Station and the land north of it in photographs from 3 eras

Published: November 4, 2026 / About 7 min read

The history of Kokurakita Ward, the City of Kitakyushu records that Kokura Station of Japanese National Railways moved to its present location in 1958. Of the photographs from 3 eras that can be opened at Kokura Station North Exit, 1945-50 comes before the move, and 1961-69 and 1974-78 come after it, so you can set before and after the move side by side at one location.

This article sets the move of the station, and the years in which exhibition and conference facilities gathered north of it, beside the photograph eras, and checks which period each of the 3 photographs shows.

The year of the move and the 3 photograph eras

The 1945-50 photograph of this location was taken between 1947 and 1948, about 10 years before the move. The 1961-69 photograph falls 3 to 11 years after the move, and the 1974-78 photograph was taken in March 1975, 17 years after the move.

Of the 8 rows in the table, the only one that overlaps the times the photographs were taken is 1975, the same year as the photograph. Of the 8 rows, 4 are events after the last of the past photographs, and all 4 concern the facilities north of the station or the railway. The move of the station lies between the first and second photographs, and every facility north of the station was built after the last of the past photographs. The photographs show the period before the facilities came to the land north of the moved station.

1945-50: the photograph from before the move

In the 1945-50 photograph, about two thirds of the upper part of the frame is gray, and only part of the south is shown. This photograph includes neither the land north of the station nor the water of the port. It is a photograph from the period before the move, but it cannot be used to compare the land north of the station.

1961-69: the land north of the station a few years after the move

The commentary on the Kokura Station North Exit location page sums up how the land just north of the station lay open between the tracks and the port in this period, a few years after the move. From the photograph of this era, there were still 8 to 16 years to go before the West Japan General Exhibition Center, the first of the facilities north of the station, was built.

1974-78: a photograph from the year the Shinkansen opened

The 1974-78 photograph was taken in March 1975, the year the Sanyo Shinkansen opened. The commentary on the Kokura Station North Exit location page also describes how the land along the tracks and just north of the station looks in this era.

Exhibition and conference facilities gathered north of the station

According to the City of Kitakyushu's materials, the West Japan General Exhibition Center was built in 1977, and the city set up the Kitakyushu International Conference Center in October 1990 and the Kitakyushu International Exhibition Hall in April 1998. From the first exhibition center to the third facility took 21 years, and over a little more than 20 years the land north of the station came together as land for exhibitions and conferences. On the Kokura Station North Exit location page, you can switch between the photograph as of 2026 and 1961-69 to compare what came to stand on the open land just north of the station.

Comparison with other locations in Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki

The photograph eras of Higashida (Yawata Steel Works Higashida District) and Tokuriki Danchi (housing complex), also in the City of Kitakyushu, Mojiko Retro, and, across the Kanmon Strait, Arcaport (Shimonoseki Waterfront) are shown in the table below. The article that reads the memory of coal mines and steelworks in aerial photographs sums up how to read the land of the steelworks.

The land north of the station in the share of built-up area

In the land use data of the National Land Numerical Information, the share of built-up area within a 500 m radius of this location rose by 7 points, from 85% in 1976 to 92% in 2021. 1976 is the year after the last of the past photographs, and 2021 is 5 years before the photograph as of 2026. 1976 is the year before the West Japan General Exhibition Center was built, yet more than 80% of the area of the 500 m circle was already built-up at that time. Among the 4 locations compared, Tokuriki Danchi rose by 42 points, from 51% to 93%, Higashida by 20 points, Arcaport by 10 points, and Mojiko Retro by 9 points.

Check with elevation and official land prices

The elevation at the center of the location is 2.6 m, the north is 2.5 m, the south and the west are 2.6 m, and the east is 2.0 m. The 5 values fall within 0.6 m of each other, and the figures also show that the land between the tracks and the port continues flat at a height only slightly above the sea.

The standard site of the official land prices (Chika Koji) is a residential lot in Shimotomino 2-chome, Kokurakita Ward, 1,289 m from the center, away from the area of facilities north of the station. The highest up to the 2026 publication is 103,000 yen in each year from 1992 to 2000, and the lowest up to the 2026 publication is 61,300 yen in each year from 2015 to 2021. Over the 15 years from 2000 to 2015 the price fell by 41,700 yen, and over the 5 years from 2021 to 2026 it rose by 2,500 yen. The 2026 price of 63,800 yen is a little over 60% of the 103,000 yen of 1992 to 2000.

For the 4 locations compared, the values at the start of the records and in 2026 are also set side by side for the nearby residential standard sites.

Of the 5 places, only near Tokuriki Danchi is the 2026 value above the value at the start of the records, with a rise of 5,300 yen.

Step through the eras to check

If you step through the eras while comparing with the table of events, you can follow which stage of the move and the construction of the facilities each photograph belongs to.

The prices in this article are actual examples at each point in time and do not reflect market prices after the article was written.