Kitakyushu and Fukuoka to introduce accommodation tax from April
Kitakyushu officials agreed with the Fukuoka Prefectural Government on Friday to set its planned accommodation tax for people staying at hotels in the city at ¥200 per guest per night. The second-biggest city in the prefecture aims to introduce the levy in April. From the ¥200, ...
Guardian Angels Japan finding less to do in Kitakyushu, one-time city of yakuza 'endless conflict'
Up until five years ago, the city of Kitakyushu had for decades grappled with so many shootings and violent attacks by organized crime groups that it was known as a city of shura (never-ending conflict). But as Japan intensified its crackdown on organized crime, the ...
Father arrested in Japan for using shock collar to discipline children
A 45-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for the alleged use of a shock collar to discipline his three children, police said, the latest in a series of child abuse cases that have prompted legislators to seek a ban on corporal punishment. Takahiro Goto in the ...
Daichi Nakamura: In pursuit of perfection
This year marks 25 years of violin study for Daichi Nakamura. His practice has earned him a host of international accolades and the position of guest soloist at renowned symphony orchestras in Europe such as the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. Yet the 28-year-old is far ...
Police suspect arson in 2017 apartment fire that killed six in Fukuoka
A fire that killed six men at an apartment building in Fukuoka Prefecture about a year ago could have been a case of arson, investigative sources said Tuesday. Police have found security camera footage showing a suspicious person walking around the two-story wooden apartment in ...
Japanese man gets life term for murdering two Kitakyushu women
A 44-year-old man was sentenced on Monday to life in prison for the murders of two women at his apartment in Kitakyushu. The Fukuoka District Court's Kokura branch handed down the ruling to Kenji Mihara for killing acquaintances Hiroe Saiki, 45, and Kimiko Mizutani, who ...
Wales hoping to win new friends at Rugby World Cup
The Wales national rugby team wants to "do more than just turn up, have a great time and then disappear" during the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, and plans to forge a lasting relationship with the city of Kitakyushu. "We want to come and ...
Kitakyushu's Space World draws early morning crowd for farewell party
Fans began lining up at 4 a.m. Sunday to enter Space World amusement park in Kitakyushu for its final day in business. Attendance at Space World, which opened in April 1990, peaked at 2.16 million in fiscal 1997. But the gradual decline in business since ...
Former SDF member who barricaded himself in Fukuoka home after shooting pet dog found dead
A man who barricaded himself inside his home on Wednesday after shooting his pet dog was found dead when a police team stormed the apartment in Fukuoka Prefecture, police said. The 65-year-old man apparently shot himself soon after he killed the dog, officials said, adding ...
Kudo-kai gangsters held in Shimizu worker's 2011 shooting in Kitakyushu
Six members of the Kudo-kai underworld syndicate are arrested in connection with the shooting of a construction worker in Kyushu in 2011.
Realtor had doubled rents on day-laborer apartment complex where fire killed six
The real estate agency managing an apartment building in Kitakyushu where six people died in a fire Sunday night had a regular policy of nearly doubling the rent for tenants who lived there for more than a month — a move intended to deter ...
Old age, depopulation decimating A-bomb-spared Kitakyushu
Few places evoke the rise and fall of Japan's industrial might than the head office of the Imperial Steel Works in Kitakyushu. The red brick Meiji Era building was the heart of the nation's first big steelworks. Now it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. Kitakyushu, ...
