FUKUOKA -- Remnants discovered of a train station built in the late 19th century in the southwest Japan city of Kitakyushu, originally slated to be preserved or moved, have effectively been wiped out for a redevelopment project. Academics from across Japan and abroad are decrying the move, saying the remains were on the national heritage level.

"If the conclusion is fixed, what's the purpose of this meeting? You're making fools of us." One of the members of the council of experts for the protection of the city's cultural property posed this question to the Kitakyushu Municipal Government during a meeting held ostensibly as a social gathering on Nov. 8 last year,

According to sources related to the matter, most of the nine attending council members asked the city for the remnants of the original Moji Station from Japan's Meiji era (1868-1912) to be preserved on-site to the extent possible, but a representative of Kitakyushu's City Branding Strategy Bureau merely repeated a previous response that they "coordinated with construction agencies, but preservation proved to be difficult." Moji Station was the precursor to the current Mojiko Station.

The sense of distrust was palpable among the council members and others toward the city, which attempted to close the curtain on the issue with just a report.

About two weeks after the meeting, on Nov. 21, the city announced plans to retain a portion of the remains of the old station's train car storage on site, making it visible through glass paneling set into the floor of the planned new facility. However, the proposed area measured only a few meters long and about 1 meter wide, representing barely over 1% of the total site's area, and demolition began immediately after.

In September, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body for UNESCO, issued a Heritage Alert for Japan for the fourth time ever, as an emergency statement to call for the preservation of an at-risk cultural property. The group in mid-December reiterated its call for the preservation of the site in light of the city's stance against revising its development plans. However, by that point the old station remnants had already been mostly removed.

Kyushu University Professor Koji Mizoguchi, who serves as vice president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Japan, said, "The outer part of the first station building, which is the central part of the site, and other parts are not included in the preservation area. Demolition was already determined. " He added with disappointment, "Of the 28 Heritage Alerts issued to date, this is the fourth instance in which it was ignored and the majority of the cultural property destroyed. The city has added a dark page to the history of international cultural property protection."

The station remains were found in October 2023, a month after the beginning of an archaeological survey conducted ahead of the construction of a complex housing the Moji Ward Office, a library and other public facilities. This finding and a supplementary survey in 2024 uncovered remains such as the train depot and outer stone wall of the original station built in 1891 and a stone seawall predating construction of the Moji Port, which was being built at the same time as the station, within the roughly 1,670-square-meter construction site.

Sixteen academic groups from Japan and overseas including ICOMOS Japan opposed the Kitakyushu Municipal Government, which has steadfastly held the position of proceeding with construction and disposing of the building remnants. The groups demanded for on-site preservation, arguing, "The remains tell the story of how Japan's modernization formed and are as important as national historic sites."

To the city, however, construction of the complex represents a major project with a budget of approximately 15 billion yen (some $95 million). As the current public facilities are aging, the municipal assembly also agreed in principle by passing the budget for its related expenses.

However, the demolition means the remnants can't ever be valued as cultural assets through an academic survey.

Immediately after the discovery, the municipal government had asked six members of its's expert council for cultural property protection for their views on the remnants' value, but after they unanimously called for on-site preservation, the city expressed disapproval, saying, "Preservation requires a redesign of the facility which is expected to increase costs by 500 million yen (approximately $3.17 million) and delay completion by three years."

The city distanced its position from the experts and until the end, avoided calling for discussion on the value of the remains as cultural assets and to consider whether or not they should be preserved.

During a municipal assembly meeting, Kitakyushu deputy mayor Chikako Oba explained, "An evaluation will lead to designation as a cultural property. It would be difficult to build a facility here (because of the restrictions on development that would be placed if the site is designated as a cultural property)." Another senior city official stated, "Appraisal is an indication of the intention for historic site designation. It is not a procedure that a city in the position of aiming to build a facility can take."

Mayor Kazuhisa Takeuchi said, when asked about the demolition at a press conference on Dec. 25, "We have been carefully considering and reviewing the matter within the city office and made steady efforts to find the best solution while placing safety and security of the citizens as top priority."

(Japanese original by Kazuhito Ito and Chie Yamashita, Kyushu News Department)