Kyūshū's second-largest city by population, but the island's largest municipality by area, Kitakyūshū is a modern amalgamation of five historic cities (Moji, Kokura, Yahata, Tobata and Wakamatsu) dating from 1963. Long a heavily industrialized city dedicated to steel and manufacturing, it is often looked down upon nationally as an "ugly", polluted metropolis, despite its environmental regulations being the strictest in the country. In recent years, the former castle town of Kokura has reinvented itself as a clean, bustling city with a sleek monorail system and an enormous shopping and entertainment complex just north of its castle park. Moji, on the far eastern fringe of the city facing Shimonoseki in Honshū, remains the city's largest draw, however, with the elegant and well-preserved Taishō architecture of its old port converted into a relaxed tourism center of museums, shops and restaurants.