Iizuka grew up as a post station on the Nagasaki Kaido, which as well as carrying the traffic of daimyo entourages heading to Edo, would have also been busy with traffic relating to the Dutch trade in Nagasaki. Many domains had offices in Nagasaki for this purpose.
From the Meiji Period on it flourished because it was the middle of one of, if not the, most important coalfields in Japan, being at the confluence of several rivers that carried the coal north to the steel works of north Kyushu.
Since the coal industry closed down the local economy nosedived.... many of the stores in the arcade were shuttered......
After checking into my hotel at the end of the third day of my Kyushu Pilgrimage I headed off to find something to eat and was treated to a wonderful sunset and moonrise....
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