Local Information updated Apr. 21, 2010

English/Japanese/Back

Here is an access guide for Ito campus.
A map of Ito campus is here. The math building is #15.
Note: Kyu-dai is an abbreviation of Kyushu Daigaku (Kyusyu university).

  • Access: from Fukuoka Airport to Tenjin:
    The website of Fukuoka Airport is here.
    From the bus stop #1 just in front of the international terminal (the map), take a charge-free shuttle bus (every 10min, travel time: 10min) bound for Domestic (Terminal 2). Get off at Domestic (Terminal 2) bus stop and you can see a subway entrance (the map). Take Kuko-sen (Airport Line) subway there and get off at Tenjin station (every 6min, travel time: 11min), the main subway station at the city center of Fukuoka.

  • Access: from Tenjin to the hotel:
    We reserved the rooms for the foreign speakers in Plaza Hotel Premier (information in English is here and the access map is here), which is a 10 minutes walk from Tenjin station.

    From ticket gates of Tenjin subway station, you can see a meeting spot with an information kiosk of Tenjin underground mall (the map). To get to the hotel, first walk along the mall and go up to the ground level from Exit "West 6". At the crossing just outside the exit, turn right and go straight along the road, under a couple of connecting corridors of department stores. You will find a donut store and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) at the end of the road and turn left there. Walk along the road (Tenjin Nishi street) beyond a Starbucks and turn right at a corner with an ADIDAS store. Then you will finally find a nameboard saying "Premier" and the entrance of the hotel, between a NIKE store and Bal Musette, the restaurant of the hotel.

  • Access: from Tenjin to Ito campus: From Tenjin, there are (at least) two ways to get to Ito campus:

    1. Take an express bus from Tenjin (Cost: 600 yen, Travel Time: 55min)

      • take an express bus bound for Kyu-dai Kogakubu Mae from Tenjin 2B (Soralia Stage) or Tenjin-kita bus stops. A map around these Tenjin bus stops is here.
      • get off at the last stop (Kyu-dai Kogakubu Mae).
        • The last bus leaves the campus at 22:00 on weekdays, 20:30 on Saturday and 19:10 on Sunday/Holiday. The time tables are here (from Tenjin 2B or Tenjin-kita/from the campus terminal). The green, orange and purple tables are for weekdays, Saturday and Sunday/Holiday, respectively. Don't mind the columns.

    2. Take a subway from Tenjin  --> Transfer to a bus at Kyu-dai Gakken Toshi station (Cost: 710 yen, Travel time: 60min)

      • take Kuko-sen (Airport Line) subway (be sure not to take a rapid train in weekend) from Tenjin station bound for Chikuzen-Maebaru or Nishi-Karatsu (which comes every 15 minutes, costs 510 yen and its travel time is about 25 minutes),
      • get off at Kyu-dai Gakken Toshi station,
      • pass through the ticket gate and go out from the exit on the right-hand side,
      • then you can see a bus stop (Kyu-dai Gakken Toshi Eki) and a waiting room on the left-hand side,
      • so take a bus there for Kyu-dai Kogakubu Mae (Usually every 10-30 minutes, costs 200 yen and travel time is about 15 minutes),
      • and get off at the last stop (Kyu-dai Kogakubu Mae).
        • The last bus leaves the campus at 23:00 on weekdays and 21:30 on weekends. The time tables are here (weekdays/weekends). The left half of the table is for buses from the station, and the right half is for those from the campus. Don't mind the colors.

  • Bus stops: There are two bus stops in the campus: Kyu-dai Big Orange Mae (Big Orange building, #27 of the map) and Kyu-dai Kogakubu Mae (Faculty of Engineering, around #25). The latter is the terminal, and every buses stop at both. There are a couple of boarding points in these two bus stops. The rightmost bording points are for Kyu-dai Gakken Toshi station and the leftmost ones are for Tenjin area.

  • Taxi: You can find taxies around Kyu-dai Gakken Toshi station and the campus bus terminal. It takes about 15 minutes and costs about 1500 yen from the campus to the station.
    • Nishi-Fukuoka Taxi 092-806-0333
    • Susenji Taxi 092-806-1044
    • Fukuoka Showa Taxi 092-806-0179

  • Cash dispensers: At a bilingual ATM (#23) of Japan Post Bank, you can use international cash cards of CIRRUS and PLUS.

  • Restaurants: While there are plenty of restaurants and pubs in Tenjin area, it seems difficult to find a nice restaurant around Ito campus. Two student canteens are on the eastern and western edge of the campus (#34, Big Sando, and #23, Big Dora). In Inamori Center (#26), the first branch of a popular Chinese restaurant (Ten-Ten) has opened recently. There is also a full-service restaurant inside Big Orange (#27), and we also have a small pub Academic Lantern (#25) serving local sake and beers. A cafeteria QASIS inside the building #32 serves halal foods.

    (Note: Sando and Dora are abbreviations of sandowitchi (sandwich) and Dora-yaki, a Japanese style pancake with sweet red-bean paste, which are named after their appearances. Aka Chochin (red lantern) is a slang for a pub, where the name of the pub comes from.)

  • Stores: University Co-op (#3) in front of the math building and convenience-stores (#34 and #23) inside the canteen buildings sell stationaries, snacks and packed lunches. A coffee stand is in the library (#21) located next to the math building.

  • Opening times (as of Oct. 7, 2009):
    • Student canteen (Big Sando #34): Mon-Fri 08:00-20:30, Sat 11:00-14:30
    • Student canteen (Big Dora #23): Mon-Fri 11:00-19:30, Sat 10:00-18:00
    • Cafeteria (#2): Mon-Fri 08:00-19:30, Sat 11:00-14:30
    • Restaurant (Big Orange #27): Mon-Fri 11:00-19:30
    • Chinese restaurant (Inamori Center #26): Mon-Sat 11:30-20:00
    • Pub (#25): Mon-Fri 17:15-23:00

    • Co-op (#3): Mon-Sun 07:00-23:00
    • Convenience store (Big Sando #34): Mon-Sat 07:00-21:00
    • Convenience store (Big Dora #23): Mon-Sat 07:00-21:00
    • Coffee stand (#21): Mon-Fri 11:00-19:00

    • bilingual ATM (#23): Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00, Sat 9:00-14:00

About Ito

Ito campus is located in a hilly region on Ito-shima peninsula. Ito-shima is thought of as the location of Ito-koku kingdom, which is recorded in an ancient Chinese document around the 3rd century as one of small kingdoms in Japan at that time, when scores of such kingdoms had been fighting for supremacy. Actually, there are a lot of remains there, such as supposed tombs of Ito-koku kings and an old mountain castle dating back to the 7th century, though they are not so touristy.

Many remains were found even during the construction of the campus, such as shell mounds, tombs and amulets before the 7th century, wood strips with Chinese characters written in the 8th century, and remains of fire pits for casting irons dating back to the 9th century.

The name Ito sounds the same as ito (thread). In Kojiki (The Record of Ancient Matters), the oldest surviving book in Japan which dates back to the year 712, a myth believed in those days is recorded that an ancient queen caught a fish using only threads from her maternity robe when she was staying in this area. This kind of myths had often been made in ancient times, probably to explain the origins of the names of things or places.

Nowadays the peninsula has been prosperous in agriculture and fishery, especially kaki-goya (oyster stands by the sea), and is also known for beautiful sunset view of Futami-ga-ura coast.