What Is Mojiko Retro? The Old Port District in Kitakyushu
This guide is for visitors who want to know what Mojiko Retro is and which buildings are worth a stop. It uses the Fukuoka prefectural travel guide and the English pages of the Kanmon area tourism site, run by Kitakyushu City and Shimonoseki City. We read them on 2026-10-04. The Kanmon area pages carry a 2021 copyright notice, so hours and prices below may have changed. Confirm them before you go.
The district in a paragraph
The Fukuoka prefectural guide describes Mojiko Retro as a port town lined with historic buildings from the Meiji period to the early Showa period. The port opened in 1889 and thrived as an international trading port. Today, the guide says, the district has been revived as a popular sightseeing area that keeps its early modern architecture.
The same guide says cafes, boutiques and restaurants serve local specialties such as baked curry, and that in the evening the buildings are lit. In winter, the Mojiko Retro Roman Illumination runs, and the Kanmon area pages place it between late November and mid March.
Buildings near the station
The Kanmon area site lists these buildings, all within a few minutes' walk of JR Mojiko Station unless noted:
- Mojiko Station building (1914): a Neo-Renaissance two-story wooden station built under the German engineer Hermann Rumschottel, and the first station building to be designated an important cultural property by the national government.
- Former Moji Mitsui Club (1921): half-timbered wooden architecture with art-deco details, built for Mitsui and Company. The site says Albert Einstein praised its beauty when he stayed there in 1922. It houses a restaurant, the Einstein Memorial Room and the Hayashi Fumiko Memorial Room upstairs. Hours are 09:00 to 17:00, open daily. The memorial rooms cost 100 yen for adults and 50 yen for elementary and junior high school students on one page, and 150 yen and 70 yen on another page about the building, so check the price at the door.
- Former Mitsui and Company Moji Branch building (1937): a six-story ferroconcrete building that was the tallest in Kyushu when built. It houses a museum called Omoide Station Moji (10:00 to 17:00) and a cafe. Admission is free.
- Former Nippon Yusen Moji Branch (1927): an American-style office building used for the boarding of cruise ships. It is still an office, so the site asks visitors to keep noise down.
- Former Osaka Shosen (1917): a restored shipping company building with orange tiles and an octagonal tower. A gallery of works by the Kitakyushu-born illustrator Watase Seizo costs 150 yen for adults. The rest is free.
Buildings along the waterfront
- Former Moji Customs House (1912): a two-story brick building restored in 1994, with a second-floor observation room over the strait. It is free and open 09:00 to 17:00 daily.
- Former Dalian Route Terminal (1929): an art-deco international passenger terminal, now a hall and a library of film materials. It is free, 09:00 to 17:00, closed four days a year.
- Dalian Friendship Memorial: a faithful reproduction of a railway and steamship company building built in Dalian by the Russian Empire in 1902. The city of Kitakyushu made a friendship agreement with Dalian in 1979. Hours are 09:30 to 17:00, open daily, and admission is free.
- Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Moji: the Kanmon area page lists adult admission of 700 yen, with free entry for junior high school students and younger. The Idemitsu Historical Archives in the same building cost 100 yen for adults, and are free for museum visitors.
Museums
- Kyushu Railway History Museum: housed in the red-brick former Kyushu Railway head office and opened in 2003. It shows real railway cars, uniforms and tools, a train driving simulator for the route from Mojiko Station to Nishi-Kokura, and a mini train park. Nine cars are on display on a platform-like area. Hours are 09:00 to 17:00. It is closed on the second Wednesday, except in August.
- Kanmon-kaikyo Raibu-kan: an exhibition on the second floor of Marine Gate Moji. Live cameras at three points along the strait show ships and landforms, and a ship-steering simulator lets you try a crossing. It is free, from 10:00 to 17:00, closed Wednesdays and from 29 December to 3 January.
The view from above
The Mojiko Retro Observation Room looks over the Kanmon Strait and the retro district from a height of 103 metres, according to the prefectural guide. It lists hours of 10:00 to 22:00, with last orders at 21:30, and irregular closures. Tower entry fees are not given.
Bananas and a performing tradition
From 1903, large numbers of bananas landed at the Port of Moji, close to the producers in Taiwan. The Kanmon area page says that selling performances began in the early Taisho era, when vendors tried to sell bananas that had ripened in transit by using unique sales pitches. Today you can hear them on weekends and at events. The Mojiko Banana Historical Archives on the second floor of the Kanmon Strait Museum shows the history.
What we could not verify, and therefore left out
- Current opening hours, which may differ from 2021 pages.
- The observation room's entry fee.
- Restaurant names and prices. Individual businesses change often.
Related guides
- How do you get to Mojiko Retro from Fukuoka, Kokura and the airports?
- What can you see on the Mojiko waterfront? Blue Wing Moji, Norfolk Square and the strait
Sources
All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.
- Mojiko Retro Area (Visit Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture) — (overview)
- Mojiko Retro Tenboshitsu (Visit Fukuoka) — (observation room)
- Former Moji Mitsui Club (Kanmon area tourism site) — (club building)
- Former Mitsui and Co. Moji Branch building (Kanmon area tourism site) — (branch building)
- Kyushu Railway History Museum (Kanmon area tourism site) — (railway museum)
- Former Moji Zeikan (Kanmon area tourism site) — (customs house)
- Performances by banana vendors (Kanmon area tourism site) — (banana sales)
- Idemitsu Historical Archives (Kanmon area tourism site) — (archives and museum)