Description & Facts: Fukuoka is the capital of Fukuoka prefecture and the largest city on the island of Kyushu. Fukuoka is a modern city; most of its buildings are new. Historically, it was divided by the central river into two separate cities, Hakata and Fukuoka, before their merge in 1889. The main railway station and port are still known as Hakata Station and Hakata Port. The city has two centres: one in Hakata and one in Tenjin. There is a Tourist Information Centre in Tenjin, found on the ground floor, in front of Mitsukoshi and under the Nishitetsu Fukuoka station. They have English speakers (and other languages) available. For information in English, visit the Rainbow Plaza, located on the 8th floor of the Inter Media Station (IMS) building. The IMS is accessible by subway and is just a three minute walk from the Tenjin station. In the middle of Hakata JR train station there is a Tourist Information Centre (sometimes with English speakers) with brochures in English, Japanese and other languages. They can help with transport information and bookings. On the third floor of the ACROS building, near Nakasu, you can find more information in English. The surrounding cities and towns make up the prefecture of Fukuoka. Fukuoka is a good starting point for first-time visitors to Japan. Being a sizable, modern city it's still not hard to get around. A subway connects most of the city's main attractions. Providing transportation between Hakata, Tenjin, Fukuoka International Airport, Meinohama (where Asia's 2nd largest ferris wheel is located) and Nishijin (where you can find Fukuoka Tower and the baseball ground of the Softbank Hawks: Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome). The main station in Hakata marks the terminus of the famous Shinkansen bullet train. (The Kyushu Shinkansen line is currently under construction, but will ultimately link the existing Sanyo line directly with Kagoshima, near the southern tip of Kyushu.)