Mojiko Station is the terminal station on the Kagoshima Main Line, which location is at the north end of Kyushu Island, facing to "Honshu", the Main Island of Japan, across the Kanmon Strait. The station used to be the gateway station to Kyushu Island from the Main Island of Japan.

Mojiko Station opened in 1891. In 1901, the ferry boat services started between Mojiko Station and Shimonoseki Station, where the south-west end station of the Main Island of Japan, across the Kanmon Strait. Mojiko Station was very much crowded with passengers transferring between trains and ferry boats. However, the tunnel opened across the Kanmon Strait between Moji Station, which is two stations west to Mojiko Station, and Shimonoseki Station. After the tunnel opened in 1942, Mojiko Station was obsoleted.

As Mojiko Station is the terminal station on the Kagoshima Line, you will see dead-end tracks when a train approaches to the station.

Architectures at Mojiko Station remain as they were a hundred years ago when the station opened. On the contrary, a train arriving at the station was very modern.

At the end of a track, a pair of driving wheels of a steam locomotive was displayed. On the right side of the below picture, you will see the statue of "Zero Milestone" of the Kagoshima Main Line. The statue indicates Mojiko-Station was the starting point of the railways in Kyushu.

On the way to the station building from platforms, there are old style ticket-gates. In Japan, tickets are checked and cancelled at ticket gates when you take a train and get off a train. The tickets gates shown in the below picture used until thirty to forty years ago. Now-a-days, automatic tickets gates are used in urban areas.

You will see the station-master's room (the below left picture) and ticket counters (the below right picture). These also remain their architectures as they were a hundred years ago.

To the north of the station, you will see the entrance of passageway to the pier of ferry boats. Before the tunnel opened under the Kanmon Strait, many passengers used the passageway.

To the left wall of the entrace, there was a small window. The window was made during World War II. The Imperial Japanese Army made the window to surveillant passengers.

The Imperial Japan before World War II was totally lunacy. I hope such the time will never come back again.

The Mojiko Station Building was built in 1914, as the second Mojiko Station Building. The Neo-Renaissance style architecture of the station building is very impressive and beautiful.

The station building is designated as an important property of Japan.
It was renovated and reopened on March 10, 2019. The former VIP room is now open for the public.

The above left picture shows the "8600" series steam locomotive used for coal trains. Chikuho area, located 30 to 40 kilometers south-west of Mojiko Area, was a coal field and many coal trains ran from Chikuho Area to Mojiko Station for export.

The above right picture shows the"C59" series steam locomotive. These engines are for passenger trains and pulled limited express trains in 1950s.

The below picture shows the "EF10" electrical locomotive, used between Shimonoseki and Moji through the Kanmon tunnel across the Kanmon Strait. The "EF10" was used in this section from 1942 to 1961.

The below pictures show train vehicles for limited express trains ran in Kyushu from late 1960s to 1980s.

When I was a university student, I took these limited express trains. These train vehicles remembered me of the past times when I took these trains with nostalgia.

How to get there
From Tokyo or Osaka, take a "Nozomi" bound for Hakata. Get off a Nozomi at Kokura and take a JR local train to Mojiko. Or, fly to Kita-Kyushu Airport and take a bus to Kokura Station.

Other Historical Sites near by:
Akama Shrine in Shimonoseki
Port Moji Historical District
Mekari Area
Ruins of Kokura Castle
Kashii-Gu Shrine