Kitakyushu next in line for semiconductor boom?
Kyushu may have a new hotspot, with Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (ASE) signing a provisional purchase agreement on land in Kitakyushu on July 31. The site offers good access to water, logistics infrastructure, and a pool of talent in the science and tech sectors.Read more
Togo Murano-designed building in Kyushu to be restored
The Fukuoka-Hibiki Shinkin Bank in Kitakyushu City has narrowly avoided demolition and will be restored by the Bank owner.
Former yakuza headquarters sells for 100 million Yen
After several hiccups, the former headquarters of a crime syndicate in Kitakyushu has been sold for 100 million Yen (approx. 935,000 USD).
290,000 USD will get you Fukuoka Prefecture’s oldest bank building
Fukuoka’s oldest bank building to be demolished if buyer is not found
The owner of a 118-year old former bank building in Kitakyushu City plans to demolish the historic property in the new year in order to sell the vacant block of land.
The former Sumitomo Bank Wakamatsu Branch Building was built in 1897 and is the oldest surviving bank building in Fukuoka Prefecture. The bank closed its doors in 1967, just as the region's coal mining industry was reaching an end.
The two-storey, wood and brick building fronts onto a covered shopping arcade and adjoins an open plaza that was once the site of the branch office for Sumitomo’s coal mining operations.
Sumitomo’s archival department do not know who the original architect was, although some experts suggest it may have been Magoichi Noguchi (1869-1915), an architect who designed many of Sumitomo Bank’s branches during that period, and who had also designed the Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library.Read more
Kitakyushu modernist buildings at risk of demolition
Two buildings designed by modernist architect Togo Murano are at risk of demolition as the rising maintenance costs are proving too much for the city's finances. The Yahata City Meeting Hall (1958) and Yahata Library (1955) are located in Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka.Read more