While Kitakyushu is oft maligned by tourist books, it is a metropolitan city of two million people located midway between Tokyo Odaiba and Shanghai, China. The area has been an important trade center since ancient times, and an important industrial area in more recent times.

Kitakyushu City was created in 1963 with the world's first five-city merger.

Each of the five original cities [Moji, Kokura, Wakamatsu, Yahata and Tobata] has retained its own distinct character, with Kokura being the most lively section of Kitakyushu.