Kanmon Straits

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Kanmon Straits

The Kanmon Straits (???? Kanmon Kaikyo) or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating two of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
's four main islands. On the Honshu

Honshu

or Honshu is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait....
side of the water is Shimonoseki (??, which contributed "Kan" to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu

Kyushu

or Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its Japanese Archipelago. Its alternate ancient names include Kyukoku , Chinzei , and Tsukushi-no-shima ....
side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward, Moji

Moji-ku, Kitakyushu

in Kitakyushu is the former city of Moji which was one of five cities merged to create Kitakyushu city in 1963. It faces Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits between Honshu and Kyushu....
, gave the strait its "mon". The straits silt up at the rate of about 15 centimetres per annum, and dredging has made it possible to build the New Kitakyushu Airport

New Kitakyushu Airport

, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu, Japan. It opened on March 16, 2006....
at low cost.

Population of Kanmon area
The total population of the Kanmon area is about 1.3 million, counting the whole of Kitakyushu (approx one million) and Shimonoseki (approx 300,000), although detailed definitions vary widely, see Fukuoka-Kitakyushu

Fukuoka-Kitakyushu

is one name given to the area of land that is centered on the cities of Fukuoka, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Usually these cities are referred to separately,but since they are close, their economic areas sometimes overlap....
.

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The Kanmon Straits (???? Kanmon Kaikyo) or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating two of Japan

Japan

Honshu

Kyushu

Moji-ku, Kitakyushu

New Kitakyushu Airport

, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu, Japan. It opened on March 16, 2006....
at low cost.

Population of Kanmon area

The total population of the Kanmon area is about 1.3 million, counting the whole of Kitakyushu (approx one million) and Shimonoseki (approx 300,000), although detailed definitions vary widely, see Fukuoka-Kitakyushu

Fukuoka-Kitakyushu

New Kitakyushu Airport

, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu, Japan. It opened on March 16, 2006....
opened in Kitakyushu on March 16, 2006 which is expected to bring further prosperity in the form of increased tourism and trade to the area.

Tourism

Fireworks festival

The Kanmon Straits Summer Fireworks Viewing dwarfed all the neighbouring ones with no less than 13,000 fireworks being let off in 2005, when the 18th annual display was held on August 13. There were large crowds of more than one million—watching from both sides of the straits. The Fireworks Festival is held on August 13 every year. The 20th festival in 2007 was televised by NHK

NHK

, or Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is Japan's public broadcaster. The NHK is financed by a television licence. This Japanese public corporation has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, NHK....
and broadcast live nationwide in hi-vision.

Boat rides

The Voyager pleasure boat departs from Moji-ko and cruises the straits.

Helicopter & airship flights

Helicopter joyrides are available from Kaikyo Dramaship in Moji-ko.

In October 2005, one of the world's largest airship

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a aerostat that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust. Unlike other aerodynamics aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing, or airfoil, through the air, aerostatic aircraft, such as airships and Balloon , stay...
s currently flying (a Zeppelin NT

Zeppelin NT

Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen....
imported from Germany) also passed through Moji on an all-Japan tour, and airship flights may be available to tourists in future. This airship was purchased by Nippon Airship Corporation in June 2004 and has been used in the Tokyo area and at the Aichi Expo 2005

Expo 2005

Expo 2005 was the World's Fair held in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. The Expo ran for 185 days between March 25 and September 25, 2005....
.

Transportation across the straits

The Kanmon Straits can be crossed in a number of ways, the oldest of which are the ferries. There is a car ferry between Nishiminato (Kokura) and Hikinoshima (Shimonoseki) which takes about ten minutes, and a passenger ferry from Moji-ko to Shimonoseki (Karato wharf). There is also a bridge which carries an expressway. By far the most used method is a number of tunnels which carry the Shinkansen

Shinkansen

File:JR East Shinkansen lineup 200 E2 E4 E1 Niigata Depot 20071100.JPGThe is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies....
, trains, cars, and even one for pedestrians at the narrowest point.

The first railway tunnel was opened on November 15, 1942. The road tunnel was opened on March 9, 1958. The Kanmonkyo Bridge

Kanmonkyo Bridge

The Kanmonkyo Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing the Kanmon Straits, a stretch of water separating two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the bridge is Shimonoseki and on the Kyushu side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward, Moji , gave the strait its "mon"....
(see photo) was opened to vehicles on November 14, 1973. The Shinkansen tunnel was opened on March 10, 1975.

Commercial importance

The Kanmon straits is also the connection between the Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Russia. It is referred to in North Korea as the Korea East Sea and in South Korea as the East Sea....
and the Inland Sea

Inland Sea

Formally named the , the Inland Sea is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the main islands of Japan. It serves as an international waterway, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan....
. It is used by many cargo ships as a short cut to Osaka

Osaka

is a Cities of Japan in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshu.Osaka is a City designated by government ordinance under the Local Autonomy Law and the capital city of Osaka Prefecture....
and Tokyo

Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
from Korea

Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
and China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. The New Kitakyushu Airport

New Kitakyushu Airport

, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu, Japan. It opened on March 16, 2006....
is also nearby.

Historical significance

Battle of Dan-no-ura
Battle of Dan-no-ura

The was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshu. On April 25 1185, the Genji clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike clan fleet, during a half-day engagement....
Bombardment of Shimonoseki
Bombardment of Shimonoseki

The Bombardment of Shimonoseki refers to a series of military engagements fought in 1863-64 , by joint naval forces from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Second French Empire, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of Choshu domain, which took place along the banks of Kanmon Straits off the coa...
Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki

The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanro hall on April 17, 1895 between the Empire of Japan and Qing Dynasty, ending the First Sino-Japanese War....

External links

(Japanese)