is one of the seven wards of Fukuoka City, Japan. As of November 1, 2004, it had a population of 128,057 people, making up 9.2% of

Fukuoka City is the sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. The area has long been considered the ...

, with an area of 16.02 km². At the time of Fukuoka City's official designation as a City in 1972, the area now known as Jōnan-ku was part of the larger ward of Nishi-ku. On May 1, 1982, Nishi-ku was subdivided into the three smaller wards of Nishi-ku,

Sawara-ku is one of the wards in Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka-ken, Kyūshū, Japan. Data *Population: 213,178 people (as of January 1, 2012) *Area: 95.88 square kilometers (the largest in Fukuoka-shi) History On April 1, 1889, Fukuoka-shi was founded. The ...

and Jōnan-ku. Located southwest of the downtown area of Tenjin, Jōnan-ku is a primarily

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

area. Despite its proximity to downtown Fukuoka, Jōnan-ku has suffered from a lack of transport

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

, leading to congested roads and difficult access to the rest of the city. The Nanakuma Line of the Fukuoka Subway opened in 2005, improving traffic flow in the area. Like most of

, the construction in Jōnan-ku is relatively recent, as the area consisted mostly of fields after

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

, lacking even paved roads. The result has been a crowded jumble of roads, houses, apartment buildings and businesses, with no real centre to the ward. A few large parks help to create a peaceful atmosphere. Jōnan-ku is home to

Fukuoka University Fukuoka University is a private research university located in Fukuoka, Japan. The university has nine faculties with a total of around 20,000 students, 800 of whom are foreign. Its two campuses are in Nanakuma and Kitakyushu. Fukuoka Universit ...

, whose students are everpresent during the school year and help support a growing number of local

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s. The St Sulpice Great

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

of Fukuoka is another notable landmark, having been built in the 1950s and serving to train Japanese

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priests from

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

. Historical sites include Kikuchi Shrine and Yūsentei Park.

Gallery

File:Kikuchi Yoshiyuki 2.jpg, Portrait said to be of Kikuchi Yoshiyuki, Kikuchi Shrine File:Fukuoka-university.jpg,

File:Befu Stationmark.jpg, Stations of Fukuoka Subway File:Yusentei Park 07.jpg, Yūsentei Park

References

Wards of Fukuoka {{Fukuoka-geo-stub