Fukuoka (福岡) is Kyushu’s largest and one of Japan’s ten most populated cities. Because of its closeness to the Asian mainland (closer to Seoul than to Tokyo), Fukuoka has been an important harbor city for many centuries and was chosen by the Mongol invasion forces as their landing point in the 13th century.
Today’s Fukuoka is the product of the fusion of two cities in the year 1889, when the port city of Hakata and the former castle town of Fukuoka were merged into one city called Fukuoka. Hakata remains the name of one of Fukuoka’s central districts and of the main railway station.