History
Minami-Kokura Station is a JR Kyushu junction station in Kokuraminami-ku, Kitakyushu, on the Nippō Main Line 3.5 km from Kokura, and is also served by Hitahikosan Line trains that continue beyond Jōno to terminate at Kokura. It opened on 20 August 1941 as a signal station at the junction with a freight spur to the Yamada Ammunition Depot, and was upgraded to a passenger station on 1 October 1943. JR Kyushu took over at privatization on 1 April 1987; SUGOCA became usable on 1 March 2009, and the station returned to direct JR Kyushu operation on 1 October 2023 after a long spell as a contracted-out station.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The freight spur whose junction created the station served the wartime Yamada Ammunition Depot; that spur is gone, and most of its right-of-way is now a road, with only its terminal section remaining traceable on the ground.