Top > A Handbook For Foreign Residents > Welcome to Kurume City
Welcome to Kurume City
You are welcome to Kurume City which is a city with green mountains, beautiful rivers and hospitable people. Kurume City has been the core city of the south part of Fukuoka County since ancient time and it has been developing itself ever since. At present, there are more than 2300 foreigners living in this city. In order to ensure you have a comfortable stay here, we make this [Kurume City People Living Brochure ] especially for you and we hope it will bring assistance to you and we treat it as a friendship bridge connecting you and the city government.
Layout and brief introduction of Kurume City
Kurume City is the combination of traditional culture and modern science and technology bred by “Chikugo river” which is named as “ The No. 1 River in Kyushu”. Surrounded by Mino Mountains, it is really a beautiful city. Its population is 304,224 according to the census on June 1st,2008) and it covers an area of 229.84 square kilometers. It is the third biggest city in Fukuoka County, ranked behind Fukuoka City and Kita Kyushu City. It is developing quickly as the central city of the south part of Fukuoka County.
There are many railway lines such as JR Kagosima line, Kyudai line and NisitetuOmuda line Railway and expressways such as No. 3 State Road and Kyushu Expressway connecting here in Kurume City. It is the traffic hub of north Kyushu. In addition, It is only 40 minutes by bus from Kurume City to Fukuoka Airport.
History and industries of Kurume City
Since Edo Age, Kurume City is a town while the current Kurume City originates from that town. In addition, the local industries of textile etc developed from Edo age can represent the pioneering spirit of Kurume people and this pioneering industry contributed a lot to the industrial development of this city.
In 1889, together with other 30 cities, Kurume adopted market system and in The Taisho era, the people invented two-toe shoes by adding rubber soles to two-toe socks and started the development of modern rubber industry which is one of the most important modern industries. In Showa Age, rubber tire manufacturing industry based on two-toe shoes technology developed quickly and at present, The rubber industry in Kurume City is well-known all over the world. Now Kurume City is developing high-tech industries such as biochemical etc based on these fundamental industries.
Kurume City enjoys excellent natural environment and its agriculture is well-developed. There are many kinds of crops and grains and its agricultural output ranks No.１ in Fukuoka County. The main agricultural products are as follows: strawberry, spinach, lettuce, onion, grape,persimmon, pear and milk etc. In addition, flowers breeding industry such as Kurume azalea has also developed into a certain scale.
As to commerce and trade, Kurume City attracts so many people from neighboring cities for shopping.
Kurume City culture
There are many famous painters in this city, the best-known painters are Shigeru Aoki，Hanjiro Sakamoto，Harue Koga etc. You may appreciate their works in Ishibashi Gallery in the city. Besides, there are also many talents in the fields of music, art craft etc. There are so many art lovers in the city and they use art to shorten the distance between people and enrich your daily life.