Dalian Shipping Line Terminal

The Dalian Shipping Line Terminal commemorates Japan’s history as an international shipping center and Moji’s role as one of its primary international ports. The terminal was once the final domestic stop for ships taking on passengers before heading to the Asian mainland via Dalian (known also as Port Arthur). The terminal became especially active after 1932, when Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in what had formerly been Northeast China. Ships would set sail from Osaka, load cargo in Kobe, and finally stop at Moji to pick up coal, more cargo, and passengers before leaving for Dalian.

The terminal’s first floor housed administrative offices, cargo storage, and inspection facilities. The second floor had a telegraph office, luggage inspection area, and a passenger waiting hall with a gangway to the dock. During the first half of the twentieth century, the building’s front was only a few meters from the water, and old mooring posts still show where ships once docked to load and unload goods and passengers.

The reinforced concrete structure was built in 1929. It has subtle Art Deco design features, including the arches above the second-floor deck and the blocklike shapes of the kanji characters above the ticket booth alongside the former main entrance.

The Building Today

Today, the first floor houses an exhibit space with models of notable Japanese ships, including many that passed through Moji on their ways to other parts of Asia and beyond. The diverse collection includes posters and advertisements from the days when steamships carried travelers and goods all around the world. Another display shows the many cities that have friendship or sister-city agreements with Kitakyushu, including Dalian, as well as an interactive exhibit where visitors can practice tying sailing knots.

Matsunaga Bunko Film Museum

An old multiplane camera, the kind used in early cel animation, stands out from the nautical exhibits of the first floor. This relic of the 1970s was used in the production of several classic animated films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Pokémon the Movie 2000 (2000). The camera, along with the 35-millimeter projector in the adjoining hallway, is part of the Matsunaga Bunko Film Museum, whose main collection is down the hall on the same floor.

This film museum is the legacy of Matsunaga Takeshi (1935–2018), a Moji-born collector of films and film memorabilia. Starting in 1997, Matsunaga opened his home to display his massive collection to the public, and in 2009 he donated everything to the city. His many thousands of films, posters, and pieces of filmmaking equipment were moved to this building, where they have been displayed since 2013. Supplemented by donations from other film lovers, this valuable archive of film history has since grown to include over 60,000 items. A portion of them is displayed at the Kanmon Strait Museum’s Retro Lane.