To Mojiko!
Strolling Through the Retro Streetscape
I took the train from Kokura to Mojiko. In front of this retro station sign, lots of people were stopping to take photos.
I got the impression that there were a lot of tourists from South Korea.
Mojiko Station is an Important Cultural Property, with a station building that opened in 1914.
Moji Telecommunications Retro Museum
After leaving the station, I walked straight to the Moji Telecommunications Retro Museum.
This building was constructed in 1924 as the telephone department office of the Moji Post Office under the Ministry of Communications, and was later used as the NTT Moji branch office.
Today, it serves as a museum displaying old telecommunications and telephone equipment along with their history. Admission is free. It was designed by Mamoru Yamada, an engineer with the Ministry of Communications who worked on many buildings related to the ministry and is also known for works such as the Nippon Budokan and Kyoto Tower.
Even just the public telephones alone, there were all kinds of different models on display, as you can see.
There was also a substantial exhibit on the history of mobile phones, with nostalgic FOMA handsets lined up.
There was also an impressive collection of commemorative postcards handed out when Disney Store locations first opened, and I’d say it’s well worth a look for Disney fans.
Mojiko Retro Observatory
Mojiko Retro is lined with many historic buildings, but this time I decided not to go inside many of them and just look around from the outside. The Kitakyushu Dalian Friendship Memorial Hall was closed.
Even among that retro streetscape, one tower apartment building stood out more than anything else. It’s called Mojiko Retro Hi-Mart.
It was designed by Kisho Kurokawa. The apartment building itself is privately owned, but the city purchased the top floor and operates it as an observatory. It is 31 stories tall (103 meters).
You can enjoy beautiful views of the Kanmon Strait.
There’s no other building like it in Mojiko, so it was striking even from a great distance.
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