Zenrin Map Museum
The Zenrin Map Museum in Kitakyushu focuses on historical maps of Japan and explains the history of the company - the largest map-making company in Japan.
Zenrin Map Museum (Zenrinchizunoshiryokan), Kitakyushu ゼンリン地図の資料館
With the Zenrin logo clearly visible, the dark gray building in the Riverwalk Complex is home to the Zenrin Map Museum
Entrance to the Zenrin Map Museum on the 14th Floor of the Riverwalk Complex in Kokura, Kitakyushu
Zenrin is the major Japanese mapping company that as well as publishing maps produces mapping software used in navigation systems for vehicles.
If you use Google Maps in Japan you will see their copyright notice at the bottom of the maps. Their head office is in the Riverwalk complex in Kokura, Kitakyushu. It is located at the spot where the first map of Kyushu made using modern surveying techniques was begun by Ino Tadataka in the 19th century.
On the 14th floor is a small but interesting map museum focusing largely on historical maps of Japan.
The main room of the Zenrin Map Museum
Great views over Kokura from the Zenrin Map Museum
Exhibits
As you enter the museum the first thing you notice is the large map on the floor. This is a replica of the map produced by Ino Tadataka.
Begun in 1800, producing the map took the last 17 years of Tadataka's life. In all he spent 3,736 days surveying and traveled almost 35,000 kilometers, all using his own money.
His team completed the map in 1821 following his death in 1818. The map is the first accurate map of the Japanese coastline, with very little detail of the interior.
In the middle of the room is a series of glass cases containing copies of some of the oldest maps of Japan produced by Europeans, including the ones used by Admiral Perry, many dating from the 16th century. Only a small selection of the more than 8,000 historical maps in their collection are physically on display.
Early European map of Japan in the Zenrin Map Museum
One of the early European maps of Japan in the Zenrin Map Museum
Zenrin Company History
There are exhibits of historical materials, tools, equipment, and machines used in making these older maps. There is also a quiet library area with hundreds of maps along with comfortable seating to sit and peruse them.
One section covers the history of the company, founded in Beppu in 1949 and initially producing tourist maps but quickly venturing into residential maps.
If you have any experience of Japan's unusual system of addresses then you will understand why these maps are both needed and popular.
Zenrin residential maps now cover 99% of Japanese cities, towns, and villages. In 1984 they developed a computer mapping system and this is what eventually provided the data for companies like Google to use in their maps and led to Zenrin becoming heavily involved in car navigation systems worldwide.
Periodically the museum also puts on special exhibitions.
Virtual Museum
Possibly the most intriguing part of the museum is called a Virtual Museum, and consists of a touch screen-based computer system. This gives access to thousands of the digitized maps in the company's collection.
The controls are only in Japanese, but it is not impossible to figure out the system with a bit of trial and error. Most of the digitized maps are of Japan, though not all. There are early European maps of Asia, but also some of Paris.
Zenrin Map Museum
1 Chome-1-1 Muromachi
Kokurakita-ku
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka-ken 803-0812
Tel: 093 592 9082
Open from 10 am to 5 pm on weekdays. Closed on weekends, national holidays, and during the summer holidays. Entry is only 100 yen for adults.
The easiest way to access the museum is through the entrance on the main street on the north side of the building where the main elevators are located. It is also possible to take an elevator from the 4th floor of the interior space of the building through the main entrance.
Hours: open 10 am to 5 pm. Closed Mondays, over the New Year, and in summer vacations. The showroom is closed on Wednesdays unless Wednesday is a national holiday.
Entrance free.
The museum is a short walk from either Nishi-Kokura Station or Kokura Station. The museum is just north of Kokura Castle.
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Air
Kitakyushu Airport is a new airport built on an an artificial island and is unusual in that it operates 24 hours a day. Several airlines run scheduled flights to and from Tokyo Haneda Airport, but Fukuoka Airport is less than 30 minutes away by train and has flights from many more domestic and international airports.
South side of Kokura Station
Train
Kokura Station is the first station of the Sanyo Shinkansen in Kyushu and all trains stop here. It takes less than 5 hours from Tokyo, 3 hours from Nagoya, and a little over 2 hours from Osaka. The newly opened Kyushu Shinkansen connects to Kumamoto in less than an hour and Kagoshima in just over 100 minutes. From Kokura take the Sonic Limited express to Kunisaki, Oita & Beppu. Mojiko is 12-13 minutes by train (270 yen) from Kokura on the Kagoshima Line.
The Sanyo Line runs a fast shuttle to and from Shimonoseki. The Kagoshima Line and the Nippo Line connect to all areas of Kyushu. Within Kitakyushu the Monorail runs about 9km from Kokura Station to Kokura Minami.
Ferry
Kitakyushu is served by several long distance domestic car ferries. A daily ferry from Tokyo stops at Tokushima on Shikoku, There are several ferries from Osaka and one from Kobe, and a direct ferry from Matsuyama on Shikoku. There are also small passenger ferries across the narrow straits to Shimonoseki and also to some smaller nearby islands. There is a high-speed speed ferry to Ulsan in Korea.
