is a ward

Wards of Japan

A is a subdivision of one of the cities of Japan that is large enough to have been designated by government ordinance. Wards are used to subdivide each city designated by government ordinance...

 of Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture

Fukuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is the former city of Moji which was one of five cities merged to create Kitakyūshū in 1963. It faces the city of Shimonoseki across the Kanmon Straits

Kanmon Straits

The Kanmon Straits or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshū side of the water is Shimonoseki and on the Kyūshū side is Kitakyūshū, whose former city and present ward, Moji , gave the strait its "mon"...

 between Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

 and Kyūshū

Kyushu

is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....

.

The ward's area is 73.37 km² and it has a population of 114,754 as of 2000.

History

Moji was first made into a port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

 by Suematsu Kenchō

Suematsu Kencho

Viscount was a Japanese politician, intellectual and author, who lived in the Meiji and Taishō periods. Apart from his activity in the Japanese government, he also wrote several important works on Japan in English...

 with the financial backing of Shibusawa Eiichi in 1889. It was chiefly used for the transportation of coal, though there is a traditional song about the sale of bananas imported into Moji from Southeast Asia which survives to this day (Banana no tataki-uri). Moji was also the departure point for many troops in the Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

 who were ferried across to Korea.

The Moji-ko Retro District

Moji-ko Retro, which officially opened under this name as a tourist site in 1995, is a historical area centered on JR Kyushu's Mojiko Station

Mojiko Station

in Moji ward, Kitakyūshū, Japan is the oldest station on the Kagoshima Main Line in Kyūshū and the terminus for those going to and from Honshū by boat...

, which is a replica of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

's Termini Station and is designated an Important Cultural Property

Important Cultural Properties of Japan

The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....

of Japan. The area boasts many interesting historic buildings. For instance, the former Moji Mitsui Club once hosted Dr. Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...

 and his wife when they visited Japan in the 1920s. Recent developments along the waterfront, such as the renovated customs building, a striking new hotel and a unique pedestrian drawbridge (Blue Wing) add to the charm of Moji-ko and make it a pleasant place for visitors to stroll.

Shiranoe Gardens

The Shiranoe botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

s face out on the Seto Inland Sea.

Transport

Large ferries for Tokyo and Osaka leave from Shin-Moji port on the Seto Inland Sea.

External links

• Moji and Shimonoseki
• Moji ward office - official page (Japanese)
• http://eefoof.com/image/12763http://eefoof.com/image/12764 Two large pictures of Mojiko train station.
• http://eefoof.com/image/12768http://eefoof.com/image/12767http://eefoof.com/image/12766http://eefoof.com/image/12765 Pictures of buildings in the retro area near Mojiko train station.