Kitakyushu · Moji PortNo.765★★★Open in map →
Mojiko Retro
— Kitakyushu's preserved harbour quarter
A compact harbour quarter in Kitakyushu where the brick and stone buildings of Japan's early port decades stand around a small basin facing the Kanmon Strait. The station itself is the first thing worth looking at.
- FromKokura Station
- A few stops from KokuraJR Kagoshima Line, direct
- Get off atMojiko Station (JR Kagoshima Line)
- On foot
- Mojiko Retro
Where it is
28 more notes in Fukuoka · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Mojiko Station buildinga symmetrical two-storey timber station in the neo-Renaissance manner, designated an Important Cultural Property
- Former Moji Mitsui Cluba Western-style house built as a trading company's social club, set just inland of the water
- Former Osaka Shosen buildinga shipping line's port office marked by an octagonal corner tower
- Former Moji Customs Housea brick customs building standing directly on the quay, facing the basin
- Blue Wing Mojia drawbridge for people on foot, crossing the mouth of the harbour basin
How to actually get there
- Kokura Station to Mojiko Station (JR Kagoshima Line, direct to the terminus).
- Leave by the front entrance and cross the station plaza toward the water.
- Follow the quay past the former customs house to the pedestrian drawbridge.
- Loop back inland through the brick and stone buildings to the station.
- JR Kagoshima Line from Kokura, no transfer
- Kokura Station to Mojiko Station on the JR Kagoshima Line. Mojiko is the terminus of the line, so there is no transfer and no risk of missing the stop. Limited express services also start and finish here, running through to Kokura and Hakata. Buy at the machine or tap an IC card.
- Return from Mojiko Station
- Trains back toward Kokura leave from the same terminus, so the return needs no planning during the day. If you stay for the evening, check the last departure posted on the platform before you walk out to the water.
About the place
Moji Port faces the Kanmon Strait, the channel that separates Kyushu from the main island of Honshu. When the port handled the traffic of that channel, shipping companies, a customs house and a trading club all built here, and those buildings were kept rather than cleared. They now stand together around one harbour basin, close enough to walk between without a map. A pedestrian drawbridge crosses the mouth of the basin, and boats still work the water beyond it. The rail terminus sits at the landward end of the same block.
How to enjoy it
Give the interiors the daytime and give the water the edges of the day. Arrive before the buildings open and the quay is yours to walk; come back after they close and the same facades are lit against the strait. On weekends and school holidays a small sightseeing train also runs along the shore toward the Kanmon narrows.
Background & history
The buildings here carry their own dates. The customs house was put up in 1912, the station in 1914, the shipping company office in 1917, the trading club in 1921 and the Dairen ferry terminal in 1929. In 1988 the station became the first railway station in Japan designated an Important Cultural Property, and it reopened in 2019 after a long restoration that returned the exterior to its original form.
Before you go
- Cash
- The promenade, the quays and the streets are free. Each historic building and museum sets its own admission and takes payment at its own entrance, so there is no single ticket for the district. Rail fares can be paid by IC card or cash at the station.
- Before you go
- The waterfront around the basin is open at any hour; the buildings keep their own daytime hours and are shut in the evening. Wind funnels down the strait and the quayside offers little shelter in rain.
- Another way
- From Hakata, take the Sanyo Shinkansen to Kokura and change there to the JR Kagoshima Line for Mojiko.
- After you get off
- Mojiko Station stands inside the district. Leave by the front entrance, cross the station plaza, and the harbour basin, the brick customs house and the drawbridge are all a short walk ahead.