Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Chūgoku Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force named, JMSDF Kure Naval Base.

Geography Kure is located 20 km (10 mi) south-east of Hiroshima city and faces the Seto Inland Sea. Surrounded by steep hillsides to the north, the two major commercial and industrial centres of the city are bisected by Mount Yasumi 497 m (1,631 ft). The city is next to the Setonaikai National Park. As well as densely populated urban and industrial centres, the city also incorporates sparsely inhabited outlying islands such as Kurahashi-jima, Shimo-kamagari, Kami-kamagari and Toyoshima.

Adjoining municipalities Hiroshima Prefecture • Minami-ku, Hiroshima • Higashihiroshima • Etajima • Saka • Kumano • Ōsakikamijima.

History The area of Kure is part of ancient Aki Province, and the port of Kure was an important seaport for Hiroshima Domain in the Edo period.

The Kure Naval District was first established in 1889, leading to the construction of the Kure Naval Arsenal and the rapid growth of steel production and shipbuilding in the city. Kure was formally incorporated on October 1, 1902. From 1889 until the end of World War II, the city served as the headquarters of the Kure Naval District.

Kure dockyards recorded a number of significant engineering firsts including the launching of the first major domestically built capital ship, the battlecruiser Tsukuba (1905) and the launching of the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato (1940).

During the Pacific War, Kure acted as the Imperial Japanese Navy's single-largest naval base and arsenal. Most of the city's industry and workforce were employed in the service of the naval installations, munitions factories and associated support functions. In the later stages of the conflict Kure came under sustained aerial bombardment culminating in the Bombing of Kure in June and July 1945.

From February 1946 until the end of Japan's postwar occupation in 1952, military establishments in Kure served at the operational headquarters for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.

Since 2005, Kure has attracted attention as a tourism centre with the Yamato Museum hosting a 1:10 scale model of the Yamato alongside a waterfront JMSDF museum of Japanese naval history.

The city continues as a major maritime centre hosting both the dockyards of Japan Marine United and numerous shore-based facilities of the JMSDF including training centres and a major hospital. The city serves as the home port of an Escort Flotilla (Destroyers), a Submarine Flotilla and the Training Squadron of the JMSDF Regional Kure District.

Government Kure has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 31 members. Kure contributes five members to the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Hiroshima 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy • Japan Marine United, formerly IHI Marine United, has a shipyard in the city • Nisshin Steel • Yodogawa Steel Works • Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems • Sailor Pen Company • Disco Corporation has three manufacturing plants in Kure • Mitutoyo • Oji Paper Company

Colleges and Universities • Japan Coast Guard Academy • Kure University • National Institute of Technology, Kure College • Kure Kyosai Hospital Nursing College

Primary and secondary education Kure has 37 public elementary schools, 25 public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the city government, and seven public high school operated by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private middle school and three price high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the disabled.

Transport: Rail JR West (JR West) - Kure Line • Yasuura - Ato - Akikawajiri - Nigata - Hiro - Shin-Hiro - Akiaga - Kure - Kawaraishi - Yoshiura - Karugahama - Tennō - Kure-Portopia

Transport: Road • Higashihiroshima-Kure Expressway • Hiroshima-Kure Road • National Route 31 • National Route 185 • National Route 375 • National Route 487.

Museums • Kure Municipal Museum of Art and Museum Avenue • Irifuneyama Memorial Museum • Sannose Gohonjin Art and Culture • Rantokaku Art Museum • Kurahashi-cho Nagato Museum of Shipbuilding History • JMSDF Kure Museum (Displaying Yūshio-class submarine Akishio), nicknamed Iron Whale Museum • Yamato Museum

Shrines • Kameyama Shrine

Historical places • Former Kure-chinjufu • Former House of Prince Takamatsu • House of Kimiyo Fujii • Takechimaru anti-invasion cement ships

Parks and gardens • Rekishi-no-mieru-Oka and Park • Nagasako Park • Allay Karasu Kojima Park • Ondono-seto and Park • Setonaikai National Park • Kure Port-pia Park • Nikokyo Park

Mountains • Mount Noro • Haiga-mine • Mount Yasumi • Nikyu-kyo • Honjo Suigenchi

Beaches • Romantic Beach Karuga • Kajigahama Beach

Festivals • Kure Port Festival • Kure Fireworks above the Sea (late July or early August) • Kameyama Shrine Festival (2nd Sunday in October, and the day before).