The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is

Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...

(, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward, Moji (), gave the strait its "mon" (). The straits silt up at the rate of about 15 centimetres per annum, and dredging has made it possible to build the Kitakyushu Airport at low cost. Western maps from the 19th century also refer to this waterway as the Straits of Van der Capellen.Taylor, Bayard. ''Japan, In Our Day''. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co, 1872. Preface map.

Population of Kanmon area

The total population of the Kanmon area is about 1.3 million, counting the whole of Kitakyushu (approx. one million) and

(approx. 300,000), although detailed definitions vary widely (see Fukuoka–Kitakyushu).

Tourism

*Fireworks festival The Kanmon Straits Summer Fireworks Festival is held in August every year. *Boat rides The Voyager pleasure boat departs from Moji-kō and cruises the straits. *Helicopter and airship flights Helicopter joyrides are available from Kaikyo Dramaship in Moji-kō. In October 2005, one of the world's largest

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

s currently flying (a

Zeppelin NT The Zeppelin NT (''"Neue Technologie"'', German for ''new technology'') is a class of helium-filled airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen. The initial model i ...

imported from Germany) also passed through Moji on an all-Japan tour. This airship was purchased by Nippon Airship Corporation in June 2004 and was used in the Tokyo area and at the

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...

Expo 2005 Expo 2005 was a World Expo held for 185 days between Friday, March 25 and Sunday, September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of the city of Nagoya. Japan has also hosted Expo '70 Osaka (World Expo), Expo '75 Okinawa (Specialised Expo) ...

Transportation across the Straits

The Kanmon Straits can be crossed in a number of ways, the oldest of which are the ferries. There is a car ferry between Nishiminato (Kokura) and Hikinoshima (Shimonoseki) which takes about ten minutes, and a passenger ferry from Moji-ko to Shimonoseki (Karato wharf). There is also a bridge which carries an expressway. By far the most used method is a number of Kanmon Tunnels which carry the

Sanyō Shinkansen , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...

, trains, cars, and even one for pedestrians at the narrowest point. The first railway tunnel was opened on November 15, 1942. The highway tunnel was opened on March 9, 1958. The

Kanmonkyo Bridge The ( Asian Highway Network ) is a suspension bridge crossing the Kanmon Straits, a stretch of water separating two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshū side of the bridge is Shimonoseki (, which contributed ''Kan'' to the name of ...

(see photo) was opened to vehicles on November 14, 1973. The Shinkansen tunnel was opened on March 10, 1975.

Commercial importance

The Kanmon straits is also the connection between the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

and the Inland Sea. It is used by many cargo ships as a shortcut to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and Tokyo from Korea and China. The

New Kitakyushu Airport , sometimes called Kokuraminami Airport, is an airport in Kokuraminami-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. It is built on an artificial island in the western Seto Inland Sea, away from the main body of the city. It opened on 16 March 2006, as but ...

is also nearby.

Historical significance

* Battle of Dan-no-ura * Battle of Shimonoseki Straits *

Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...

Treaty of Shimonoseki The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...

Transportation

The

opened in Kitakyushu on March 16, 2006, and is expected to bring further prosperity in the form of increased tourism and trade to the area. Ferries from

Port International Terminal: *The Kanpu ferry to

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

in South Korea *The Orient ferry to Qingdao in China *The Orient ferry to Shanghai in China

References

External links

Kanmon straits guide
{{Authority control Straits of Japan Straits of Asia Landforms of Fukuoka Prefecture Landforms of Yamaguchi Prefecture