The Yawata Steel Works as seen from Yahata Elementary School.
Photograph dated May 8th, 1910.
Provided by Nippon Steel Corporation Kyushu Works.
This shows how the expansion of the steel plant was progressing in the Higashida area
after the initial firing of the third blast furnace the preceding year.
The former site of the steel works later became the Space World amusement park
(closed at the end of 2017).
The Kitakyushu Expo Festival 2001 was held to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the steel works.
Following that, the area became a museum zone.
The Higashida Daiichi Blast Furnace was preserved as a symbol of the area
and the Yawata Steel Works First Head Office was registered as a World Heritage Site.
Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History
and the TAKAMIYA Environment Museum opened in 2002,
and Space LABO opened in 2022,
transforming the area in to a museum district.
Focusing on two museums - Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History and Space LABO - and in cooperation with the TAKAMIYA Environment Museum and Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, as well as local residents and private organizations, we will uncover, preserve and restore local historical and cultural resources, to create new value and vigoration in the area.
