Tobata ward

Tobata-ku (戸畑区^?) is a ward of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, Japan. It is the smallest ward of Kitakyūshū city at 16.66 km². The population was 64,330 as of the national census in 2000.

In 1899 Tobata-cho (Tobata town) was created, and in 1924 Tobata-shi (Tobata city). The city was merged into Kitakyushu in 1963. Officially Tobata became a ward of Kitakyushu on April 1, 1963.

Part of Tobata ward faces the sea inlet or firth (Scottish English) called Dokai wan, and the surrounding outer sea is called Hibiki nada. The red-painted bridge between Tobata and Wakamatsu wards is called the Waka-To Ohashi (Great Bridge of Waka-To) and was the first suspension bridge in Asia, completed in 1963. On September 30, 2005 it passed into the control of Kitakyushu city.

A new tunnel is being constructed in 2005-8 between Tobata and Wakamatsu wards to link the Hibiki container terminal with Kokura.

Much of this ward, especially the part facing the open sea, is taken up by the Nippon Steel (Shin Nihon Seitetsu) foundries, blast furnaces, coaling docks etc. though the numbers employed there are greatly reduced since the heyday of steelmaking in the 1960s, from about 25,000 to 8,000 employees.

The Congregation of Notre Dame has a community in Tobata.

The West Japan Industrial Club (Matsumoto-tei, a house originally built for and owned by Mr. Matsumoto), a large house and garden adjoining Yomiya park, was designed by Tatsuno Kingo who also designed Tokyo Station as a monument to Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War. A scene from the 2003 movie "Spy Sorge" (director Masahiro Shinoda) about Richard Sorge was shot in the garden,

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