Mojiko Retro District — Meiji-Era Port Town

Moji was one of Meiji-era Japan's most important international trading ports — the first point of entry for goods moving from continental Asia into Japan. The prosperity of 1889–1920 left a dense cluster of Western-influenced commercial buildings: red-brick customs houses, Renaissance Revival banks, a rococo-style former maritime office. When the port lost its primacy to Kitakyushu's more modern facilities, Moji froze in time.

Today the district (officially Mojiko Retro) preserves 17 registered Western-style buildings within a 500-meter radius, making it one of the most concentrated examples of Meiji commercial architecture in Japan. The evening waterfront, with buildings illuminated against the Kanmon Strait and the lights of Shimonoseki visible on the opposite shore, is unexpectedly romantic.