Tobata-ku (戸畑区) is award ofKitakyushu,Fukuoka,Japan. It is the smallest ward of the city at 16.66 km2. The population was 64,330 as of the national census in 2000.
In 1899 Tobata-cho (Tobata town) was created, and in 1924 Tobata-shi (Tobata city). The city was merged intoKitakyushu in 1963. Officially Tobata became a ward of Kitakyushu on April 1, 1963.
Part of Tobata ward faces the sea inlet orfirth (Scottish English) calledDōkai Bay, and the surrounding outer sea is calledHibiki nada. The red-painted bridge between Tobata and Wakamatsu wards is called the Waka-To Ohashi (Great Bridge of Waka-To) and was the first suspension bridge in Asia, completed in 1963. On September 30, 2005 it passed into the control ofKitakyushu city.
A new tunnel was constructed in 2005-8 between Tobata and Wakamatsu wards to link theHibiki container terminal withKokura.
Much of this ward, especially the part facing the open sea, is taken up by theNippon Steel (Shin Nihon Seitetsu) foundries, blast furnaces, and coaling docks. However the numbers employed there are greatly reduced since the heyday of steelmaking in the 1960s, from about 25,000 to 8,000 employees.
TheCongregation of Notre Dame has a community in Tobata.
TheWest Japan Industrial Club (Matsumoto-tei, a house originally built for and owned by Mr. Matsumoto), a large house and garden adjoining Yomiya park, was designed byTatsuno Kingo who also designedTokyo Station as a monument to Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War. A scene from the 2003 movie "Spy Sorge" (director Masahiro Shinoda) aboutRichard Sorge was shot in the garden,
NearbyKyushu Institute of Technology (founded by Mr. Matsumoto in 1907) has its oldest campus (the faculty of engineering) in Tobata.
The most important annual folk-cultural event is theTobata Gion festival designated a national intangible cultural asset, and theKitakyushu city art museum is also here. There are standing exhibits of Western and Japanese art and regularly changing art exhibitions.
Sayagatani field and athletic stadium was built by Yahata steel workers and is still used for ball sports (rugby, soccer etc.) and athletics.
Zenrin, a mapping and navigation software company, has its headquarters in the ward.[1]
The notable rugby playerTakuro Miuchi is from Tobata. There is a rugby ground at Astem no Mori, and another at Sayagatani. Miuchi first learned to play rugby atSayagatani rugby school and later atYahata High School.
There are twoJR Kyushu rail stations on theKagoshima Main Line (Kagoshima honsen):Tobata Station andKyushu Koudaimae Station, named afterKyushu Institute of Technology which is seven minutes walk from there. Buses are run by the Nishitetsu company.
A small shopping mall, Tobata Aeon, is located next to JR Tobata station. It is a kind of local and down-market department store, as compared with Isetan and Izutsuya in nearbyKokura Kita ward.
Wakato ferry is for passengers with bicycles. It is one of the shortest and cheapest ferries in Japan (three minutes, 100 yen one way).
Media related toTobata-ku, Kitakyūshū at Wikimedia Commons
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33°53′41″N130°49′46″E / 33.89472°N 130.82944°E /33.89472; 130.82944
