MOJIKO STATION (KITAKYUSHU)

A station with brass foundations

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Yasushi Wada

By Kazuhiro Katayama

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The two pillars in the concourse of JR Mojiko Station in Kitakyushu sport impressive shiny brass foundations that are just big enough to wrap both arms around.

When Motoyasu Sawano, 58, joined the station staff 40 years ago, the foundations looked miserable, painted in black.

"My boss told me to polish the foundations with sandpaper and when I did, the glittering brass emerged," Sawano said. "I felt like I had discovered a treasure."

The theory goes that someone must have painted the foundations to save them from the military, which ordered all available metal be contributed to the war effort during World War II. It is easy to imagine someone coming up with the clever idea to save the elegant station.

JR Mojiko Station, which opened in 1891, was called Moji Station before the Kanmon Tunnel was completed in 1942. The current two-story station building made of wood and mortar is the second one and was built in 1914.

The station was a gateway to the Kyushu region from Honshu. Moji Port flourished in the middle of the Meiji era (1868-1912) as a hub for trade with China, and in the early Taisho era (1912-1926) it became the largest port in the nation in terms of the number of freighters disembarking.

When the Kanmon Tunnel was completed, the rail line forked in front of the station with one line diverted directly to Honshu.

As the war carried on, slumping exports were replaced by soldiers and army horses leaving for overseas. When the war ended, the large cargo ships never returned, leaving the streets of Moji deserted.

The good news came in 1988, when the station building was designated an important cultural asset. It was then that the Kitakyushu municipal government launched a project to restore and redevelop buildings in the area around the station that date back to the Meiji and Taisho periods to revive their historic value to attract tourists. The area was named the Mojiko Retro area.

The number of tourists to the area has grown since its redevelopment was completed in 1995, increasing 10-fold in a decade compared to the year before the redevelopment was completed.

Like the brass foundation of the station's pillars, the city has revived its forgotten treasure.