Quite a small castle but fun to visit. Especially for kids. Some interaction games are good for learning which won’t make you bored. Excellent view of the Kokura city from the top floor. Well maintained and arranged inside out.

Kokura Castle is a genuinely lovely stop in Kitakyushu, offering a great mix of historical charm and engaging modern exhibits. While the current main keep is a 1959 reconstruction (the original burned down), the builders did a beautiful job. The castle exterior, surrounded by the moat and the peaceful Katsuyama Park grounds, is very photogenic—especially during cherry blossom season! Inside the castle, you'll find a well-designed, interactive museum. Unlike some older castles, the displays here are fun, with hands-on elements that bring the Edo period and the castle's history (including its famous residents like Miyamoto Musashi) to life. It’s definitely engaging for both adults and kids. The view from the top floor provides a nice panorama of the city, showing the blend of history right next to the modern Riverwalk Kitakyushu complex. Pro-Tip: Make sure to grab the combo ticket that includes the main keep and the adjacent Kokura Castle Garden for a great value and a peaceful break. Overall, it's a very pleasant, worthwhile, and affordable way to spend a few hours in the city.

So beautiful and the story of the castle and shogunate. I really like the place and the history. Everything is near. And there is a festival too. First time we visited here. Kokura Castle is also known as Cherry blossom castle🌸🏯

A small but charming castle with a huge parking lot just across the street. You can take the paid elevator up to the castle. There aren’t many interactive activities, but the view from the top floor is lovely and relaxing. The souvenir selection isn’t particularly exciting, yet the overall visit feels easy and pleasant — a nice, laid-back castle experience.

A historic castle. It's very beautiful and you can go inside. It has been burned down and rebuilt many times. It has the history of Japan written inside. It was very moving! You should definitely go!🏯

A nice town worth visiting, once you arrive at the Kokura station, use the south exit and walk along the way by using your google maps, nice walk no worries. A lovely garden nearby. Just buy the ticket upfront.

Rebuild after war , beautifully combined the new and old part of the buildings,and inject many vibrant elements into this historic site. Interactive devices applied to attract young people to getting to know the history of the city and its surrounding.

Visited Mojiko Retro District on September 12, 2025. Even in mid-September it was still hot and humid, but the retro-style buildings, old port atmosphere, and relaxed vibe made it a very enjoyable stroll. That day there were several pop-up shops selling dog goods and many visitors with their pets—possibly a special “Dog Day”—which gave the town a cheerful and lively feel. We also enjoyed the shopping area, where visitors can eat local dishes, relax in cafés, and shop for souvenirs. The retro setting makes it a pleasant place to wander and take breaks. In the early evening, we went up to the 31st-floor Observation Room near the waterfront. For just ¥300, we got a stunning 270° panoramic view of the port, the Kanmon Strait, and Shimonoseki across the water. Seeing the scenery shift from daylight to dusk, as the town lights began to glow, was unforgettable. I recommend visiting in the afternoon through the evening so you can enjoy both the daytime stroll and the magical night view from above. Mojiko Retro is compact, walkable, and offers the perfect mix of history, culture, food, and scenery.

A lovely port town with beautiful, European-style buildings and a relaxed atmosphere. Perfect for taking leisurely strolls and capturing scenic view.

Not recommend if you do not have free time. Nothing to do much. The view is amazing and beautiful​ but that's it. The banana soft cream is wonderful. However, overall is so so.

If you want to see one of the greatest examples of how western influence made its way in Japan, visit Mojiko Retro. It’s a beautiful dock with many European buildings and tons of dining options, shops, museums, view points and water features. The train station itself is already a great attraction.

Assuming this is the geotag of the wharf area, this is the most lively location where tourists and local partake in souvenir buying and eating, if not for the yaki curry to the east of the station. Made in Japan products and handicrafts line the bay area and many take shelter from the rain indoors. Since you are here, just get the banana products like cakes and tarts. I managed to buy a stack of Tirolian for my students back home. Feedback was that it was delicious, as is all snacks.

Mojiko Retro (in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka) is a historic port area famous for Western-style buildings, sea views, and its signature yaki curry. It’s one of the best places in Kitakyushu for a relaxed photo walk.

it's a wide open space park. There were flea market when we visited. There are some old buildings made by nostalgic red bricks and the bridge separated and opened letting some boats go in and out.

I’ll admit—I found the Toto Museum far more fascinating than I expected. It might seem counterintuitive to spend time at a museum dedicated to the world’s leading toilet manufacturer, but it turned out to be both educational and surprisingly engaging. Interactive exhibits and detailed cutaways answer that age-old question we’ve all wondered: “How does a toilet actually work?” The museum also offers convenient coin lockers for visitors, and on the lower floor, you’ll find the Toto showroom, where you can admire the latest in high-tech toilets and sleek bathtubs. Believe it or not, this is a must-see stop when visiting Kitakyushu—quirky, informative, and unexpectedly memorable.

Excellent exhibit, a history of Toto. The building has two levels second level for the museum and history of Toto. The first level is a showroom and sales floor. Interesting to anybody, but specially for people working in construction trades or design would benefit the most. (I’m pretty sure they would not sell products intended for Japan for export, Toto product sold in the United States are different)

Toto museum is definitely an interesting experience. You get to see the evolution of Japanese toilets from the ancient era to what you see today. High tech, comfortable and easy to use.

Japan's bathroom technologies are many miles ahead of other countries, so it's amazing to visit a museum dedicated to their history. I'm absolutely obsessed with TOTO products and really wish they sold wider varieties of their products in the UK. I hope they expand the museum even more to showcase other excellent bathroom features such as autobath and temperature control. If you love Japanese bathrooms, then this is a pilgrimage you need to take to celebrate the technology in all its glory. Plus, Kokura is a nice city to visit. Worth the day trip imo, just make sure it's not Monday since they're closed.

Initially I thought this would be a quirky museum that would be a quick walk thru. Upon entering I was extremely surprised at how robust it actually was. The interactive displays were a nice touch as well. If you are in Kathmandu, definitely worth a visit

Visited here for business trip with company staffs. Very interesting place. The staffs are so friendly and explain everything so clearly.

interesting experience . puts japans toilet advancement in perspective. very pleasent museim and service

Nice view, not a lot to do at the top though. You first have to take a cable car to the middle of the mountain before taking another cable car that goes up the side of the mountain to the top.

The view was breathtaking! I will definitely be back. It was freezing though so pack a sweater when you visit. I want to go back at sunset :)

The cable car only open in certain days have to check before you go but the view there is certainly a must go place if you are in kita Kyushu

To go up, you can use cable car and then climb for a while (i had not breakfast yet but it's still okay). Once you reach the peak, you can see the whole Kitakyushu city. I was going there in afternoon and it's very good, but some people recommend to go there during evening-night. Make sure you have a good camera.

Good night view. Also good for watching sunset.

Mount Sarukura is the highest and best place to see the Kyushu city well

Breathtaking !

Good for children. Paid for ticket. The outdoor train simulator requires ¥300 for 2 people. The indoor train simulator is free but takes a long time for waiting, STRONGLY suggests reserving the indoor train simulator first.

Kyushu railway history museum is a nice museum to understand more about trains, although not a very big one. You can try the train simulator and play with the model train for ¥100. You can even take the mini train ride to become a train captain for ¥300 but could be close due to bad weather.

What amazed me is how much they can fit inside of the tiny park area. With the ¥300 yen ticket per adult you can check out historic trains from the last century parked in a row, a mini outdoor railway park, a diorama room showcasing all the N-gauge Shinkansen and other iconic express trains in Kyushu, a train simulator room, a library of real, ancient relics on train history in Kyushu and so on.

Great museum. Tons of artifacts. Great layout. Just wish things were translated into other languages for non-Japanese speakers. If they were, I would give this five stars.

my sons love trains so when they know there is a train museum in kyushu, they keep nagging to go here. quite nice, not too big like the one we went on another city but they still like it. there are several old trains on the train garage with each of their history. we can also go inside the museum which shows many old things related to trains. kids also can play train simulator by paying 100 yen only, but you need to get ticket reservation because most children would like to play this.

Boring, nothing to see here but a few trains that you cannot enter. Bunch of Japanese kids running around and shouting. Perhaps this is what hell looks like. Everything that seems fun is paywar. Save the 300 yen for a menchi katsu instead

As a train fan this is the place I’ve been owing to go while in Kitakyushu. Adjacent to Mojiko Station there are old train carriages outdoors on display with three of them you can enter inside, as the interior is well preserved. The main building hosts a small 1900 carriage and an exhibition room upstairs with railway artifacts, station and destination signs and old photos. Though not as big as the one near Omiya it is great that there is one.

Wanted to try but hostess would not seat the two of us in a near empty restaurant at 3:30 pm until my friend, who was a few minutes minutes away, arrived. We simply wanted to order some apps and then try the ramen. Oh well; luckily there are a lot great ramen restaurants close by and am currently enjoying a delicious pork based broth close at Mok Bar.

Very convenient can take the nearest train station and bus stop here.Food is very delicious,lots of verity and very fresh.Tourist should try having hot pot in Kyushu Fukuoka Japan.👍👍👍

Very Poor value for chicken hotpot! Much better options anywhere else

Thank you for the meal. I enjoyed it a lot!

Nice place and yummy foods 🫰🏻

(Translated by Google) Renovated offal hot pot specialty store Koraragen I went to eat there because they said they had renewed their lunch menu from April🥢 New menu grilled mackerel set meal 980 yen!! ️ I used mackerel caught from the Genkai Sea, and as you might expect from fatty mackerel, the juicy fat was delicious! It also comes with mizutaki soup stock, and you can eat it as a dashi chazuke, which was delicious! The set meal included rice, miso soup, one dish, steamed egg custard, pickled egg yolk, salad, and a drink, which was an exceptional deal. They also have motsu nabe set meals, starting at 1,700 yen. You can choose from 5 flavors: soy sauce, miso, salt, spicy miso, and tomato! All the flavors of motsu nabe are delicious and I'm grateful that I can choose my favorite flavor 🫶 It seems like you can have free refills of rice for the set meal 🍚 The store has just been renovated, so it's quite clean and has a great atmosphere. (Original) リニューアルしたもつ鍋専門店　こらぁ源 4月からランチメニューもリニューアルしたと言う事で食べに行きました🥢 新メニューの焼きとろさば定食980円‼️ 玄界灘の釣り真鯖を使っており、とろさばと言うだけあってジューシーな脂が美味しかったです！ また水炊きの出汁が付いており、出汁茶漬けにして食べれるのですがこれが絶品でした！ 定食にはご飯、味噌汁、一品物、茶碗蒸し、漬け卵黄、サラダとドリンクも付いており破格でした👌 またもつ鍋定食もあり、1700円〜から提供されています。 味もしょうゆ、味噌、塩、辛味噌、トマトの5種類から選べました！ もつ鍋もどの味も美味しく自分好みの味が選べるのは有り難い🫶 定食のご飯はお代わり自由みたいです🍚 店内もリニューアルしたてなのでかなり綺麗で雰囲気のいいお店です🤗

(Translated by Google) This is my second visit after moving. I ate a slowly grilled mackerel set meal in a private room! ️The snow-scented shaved ice is exquisite🎵🍧I'm happy to be able to eat this shaved ice in Kitakyushu😃💕 (Original) 移転をされて２回目の来店。個室でゆっくり焼きとろさば定食を食べました‼️雪の香りのかき氷は、絶品🎵🍧北九州で、このかき氷を食べれることは、幸せ😃💕

Visited first time. The place is very close to Kokura st. The restaurant was a bit crowded as the time was just in the middle of dinner time. I picked Kistune udon. Order is taken via touch panel on the table. The udon was served very quickly. The noodle was very chewy and sour tasted gentle which is uniques Kansai. Like the udon very much.

24 hour restaurant with great affordable meals. The fried chicken was really juicy and good value. You order through the tablet but the English translation are not that good, so use google translate to take a picture of the screen if needed. I had the special tempura eel set and 3pc fried chicken which only totaled 1160 yen

if you want eat with low price, i think this store is recommended but too many people at night friday, saturday, and holiday, but its normal you can order with tablet on the table, so practice and user friendly for foreigner or local staff so friendly and this is a good place and you can get best experience when you come to this store, i alwaya enjoy my meal and i always come 3~4 timea in a week atmosphere so good and service is amazing you can pay with cash, or eletronic money, and i think you also can pay with debit or credit card "maybe"

There are various types of food that you can order from a tablet, English and Chinese menu are offered. The food is cheap but delicious

I ordered ebi tempura bowl with soba noodles on the side it’s just perfect on cold snowy night

Went to this place to try the "goboten udon". The udon itself is pretty good, and the tempura (the fried batter) is nice and crunchy as well. But the gobo itself (the vegetable root) is a bit bland.

Delicious family udon chain. They had a collaboration going on with an anime idol franchise, idolm@ster Million Live. Buy a special set and you get a gift. The set includes niku udon with burdock tempura, side of katsudon and ohagi for desserts. Service was fast despite being very busy with this collaboration going on.

Great atmosphere. I feel like baked curry is very similar to bake rice in Hong Kong except in Mojiko its using Japanese style curry. Nevertheless a very yummy meal if you like richer taste and cheese. One of nice thing at Bear Fruits is that if Curry is not your thing they also have some pasta options

Had a good food after a long drive. Came in about 6.30pm. There wasn't many people. The pretty lady that serve us is kind and helpful. Even though limited English. Food wad great. Chef came out for the bill too. Had a good meal.

Great find Baked Curry is the local speciality and Bear Fruits does it very well. We were surrounded by locals on a busy lunchtime. Good food, great service. Recommended

Great experience trying baked curry for the first time. Apparently the thing to try when you visit Mojiko. I tried the one with beef. Served in a hot ceramic dish.The cheese was nicely browned. I recommend it. (Not spicy so don't worry about that) Quite busy so we had to write our names in the waiting list book outside but we only had to wait a short time. We had our baby in a stroller but that wasn't a problem, they even brought a kiddies cup with water and a straw when we sat down. Highly recommended.

I'm pleasantly surprised! The curry was delicious. Didn't expect cheese and egg to work so well. I got the beef curry. Please note there's not much protein, just a few pieces.

We came here to eat the famous yaki curry (baked curry) and it was really delicious! We had as well a tasty cheese curry! 😍 The view to the port is very nice, wifi is available and the staff is really nice. I highly recommend going there! 😊

Yummy curry. Didn’t like the curry powder but worth for a few sprinkles. The Spaghetti was awesome.

Without doubt the BEST sandwich anywhere in Japan. I can't tell you how good it is. So many different combinations of sandwich to make and all are so amazingly good. Made fresh and quickly. Very convenient location, near to the station and walking street. Price is also very cheap considering the amount of food you get. A MUST visit if you are in Kokura.

This restaurant has great sandwiches. You order 2 fillings and pay whichever price is greater. I paid about 750¥. I don't know if the staff can speak any English. Highly recommend this restaurant.

This place is awesome. I go every time I'm in town. Quick service, great food, and far more reasonably priced than I expect from these sorts of places.

This is one of the most iconic eateries in Kitakyushu! Definitely recommend for their sandwiches, drinks and prices.

Very nice variety of sandwich toppings. Corn soup was quite good, too. This place is popular, so prepare to wait in line, especially on weekends and holidays.

Very famous sandwich place in Kitakyushu. The sandwiches are truly delicious, the price is fair and you can eat in or take away. You can choose though a wide range of sandwiches and other kind of side menu as potato salad, soups, etc. The interior design is kinda American style, cozy. If you go around noon be prepared for huge queues as this place is located in Kokura, quite centric, and it’s very popular. The sandwich from the picture is their original chicken recipe.

If they run out of material for sandwich the store will close early. Went there around 5pm and was told they sold out. Don't bank on going around evening, it's a popular sandwich spot and high tourism. This place will close early than the suggested 7pm on Google. You will be turned away plan accordingly.

Soba on a tile-roofed plate. The problem is that the tile-roofed plate is too hot, so the soba gets burnt. It tastes pretty good. I wish the tile-roofed plate was not so cold. Rather, ochazuke, which is warm tea poured over rice, is incredibly delicious.

I liked the atmosphere and odd style (for people from out of prefecture like me) to cook soba , their soba is Cha-Soba the green tea in buckwheat noodles, pan fried at Kawara the material which is usually using to the roof of the house. Fugu the blowfish is one of the feature of this sea area around. Taking (the skin thin cut and marinated) it with Ponzu citrus sauce is golden.

It was on Sunday and sunny ☀️ very busy restaurant, but very efficient. I probably waited 30 mins ish. Nice Kawara soba, I did enjoy it 😋

Great tasting soba with wagyu beef, unagi rice, fried puffer fish and fugu tofu. Good service and reasonably priced.

Everything was horrible. Avoid at any cost. Staff are trying to collide you and unbelievably rude. They cannot speak polite Japanese language. Soba noodle tasted bad, pork was like cheap yakiniku. Unameshi tasted nothing.

Stone fried soba. Very special taste. Eel bowl is also very delicious.

Soba on a tile. What a fun way to eat soba.