History
Kokura Station opened on 1 April 1891 in front of Kokura Castle, built by the private Kyushu Tetsudo company. It was brought under state control on 1 July 1907 and rebuilt 700 metres east of the original site on 1 March 1958; the former location is today commemorated by the name Nishi-Kokura ("West Kokura"). San'yō Shinkansen services began calling on 10 March 1975. At Japanese National Railways privatisation on 1 April 1987 the conventional lines passed to JR Kyushu while the shinkansen platforms came under JR West. A 1990s expansion culminated on 1 April 1998 with the Kitakyushu Monorail extension into the rebuilt station building, making Kokura the only Japanese station where a monorail terminates inside the JR concourse.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Kokura is the only railway station in Japan where a monorail enters the JR station building — the Kitakyushu Monorail's terminus was built into the station's third floor during the 1998 reconstruction.