A surprising trip.

While I was traveling by train around Kitakyushu, I never expected that as the itinerary unfolded, every destination would have a little bit of good fortune waiting for me at the end.

Each city in Kyushu has a museum with its own personality. Each is small and beautiful, designed by top architects, and the exhibitions are compact and focused, so walking through them is never a chore. It is not like grand storytelling museums, where by the time you finish the prehistoric section you might already feel drained.

This is a little notebook of Kyushu art museums.

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum was my favorite on this trip. A teacher once said that a person’s impression of a place depends largely on their mindset in that moment. Maybe that was exactly the case; everything was in perfect rhythm that day.

The museum is not far from Nagasaki Station or the port—you just walk a little along the waterfront canal and you’re there.

The building was designed by Kengo Kuma, who has won many awards. A small canal divides the museum in two, while a glass passage connects it back into one; even the babbling water underfoot is poetic enough.

The entrance sign, designed by Kenya Hara, Kengo Kuma’s longtime collaborator, is very clever. Its two-layered shape creates a ripple effect whenever you pass by or look from different angles, constantly reminding you this is a museum by the water.

Inside, the space is spacious, filled with soft natural light, and feels calm and warm.

The collection focuses mainly on works about Nagasaki as a historic port city. In addition, there is a substantial collection of Spanish art, since a donor once served as the Spanish ambassador and collected many works by Goya and Picasso.

Even better, there is a lush rooftop garden. You can sit there and daydream while watching the sunset over Nagasaki port, and many times large cruise ships are docked in the harbor.

Or you can stroll through the riverside forest park—both ways you can feel just how comfortable Nagasaki is.

Oita Prefectural Art Museum OPAM

The one with the highest visual appeal is definitely Oita Prefectural Art Museum OPAM. On the east coast of northern Kyushu, most people go to Beppu just for hot springs and end up overlooking the neighboring city of Oita.

(I went to Oita because weekend stays in Beppu are really expensive.)

I strongly recommend this award-winning museum as well.

Its exterior uses locally sourced cedar from Oita, creating a grid-like façade, with intersecting motifs inspired by traditional local bamboo weaving.

Even the overpass uses the same design language, showing architect Shigeru Ban’s deep affinity for weaving.

The interior features oversized windows, light-colored walls, and ceiling tones that make the space bright and open.

The details are lively, too: cylindrical pendant lamps made of woven dyed fabric by renowned textile designer Reiko Sato, giant Easter eggs, warm colorful seating, and even a tiny pool—this place instantly becomes a relaxed, comfortable living room.

On the third floor there is a perforated circular skylight/atrium, creating a unique spatial experience.

The architect positioned this museum as “bringing art into everyday life.” This kind of space feels accessible to everyone and lets people enjoy art with ease.

Its permanent exhibitions include contemporary art from Oita Prefecture, sculpture shows, ukiyo-e print exhibitions, and special exhibitions—such as a touring show featuring Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan, who is from Oita.

Takeo Library TAKEO ONSEN

You may skip the onsen bath, but don’t skip the library.

Takeo Onsen is an unassuming little town, yet it has a shockingly stylish library.

It was originally just an ordinary town library. More than a decade ago, when it was renovated, the mayor called Tsutaya Books and handed it over to them.

So Tsutaya’s in-house designers Miyahara Shinwa and Kenya Hara redefined the library.

The exterior is simple but sophisticated in texture. Inside, most of the exposed structure is wood-toned; during daytime, sunlight streams through a circular skylight, and the whole room feels bright and airy.

On the second floor, a huge arched book wall showcases 200,000 books from the town.

Window-side seats are always the most popular spots in the library.

On the first floor at night, many local residents who have finished work come to borrow and return books, and it gets livelier as the evening goes on.

The adjacent children’s section, newly opened a few years ago, mainly provides picture books and albums for preschoolers.

Renovating a library and activating a city through it is a very successful kind of transformation.

People always worry about the disappearance of print books, but if there are libraries like this, books may fade away a little more slowly.

Fukuoka Art Museum

The first three are very modern in design, while Fukuoka Art Museum’s red brick façade, stairway, and forecourt feel like a proper, mature predecessor, and evoke Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Both were designed by Kunio Maekawa, a pioneer of modern Japanese architecture.

With Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Shigeru Ban wanted people to enter as if they were coming home, while going to a museum used to be a much more formal affair.

That is why this forecourt exists: the architect said it allows visitors to pass through a broad space and detach themselves from everyday life before taking in the works.

The museum’s permanent pieces are not many, and what feels more grounded is the work from local art competitions and painters from Kyushu.

From the mezzanine on the second floor you can overlook Ōhori Park, and there is a Yayoi Kusama pumpkin. Ōhori Park is a running hotspot, and the environment is excellent; after visiting the museum, take a lap in the park and there’s also a very distinctive Starbucks.

Other Kyushu Art Museums

Kyushu has many excellent museums, such as Kengo Kuma’s Yufuin Manga Art Museum Comico Art Museum YUFUIN. Its construction uses charred cypress, and the black material blends into the surrounding mountains.

The Kumamoto Museum of Contemporary Art is the most unassuming, feeling more like a community space inside a mall, though its exhibits are quite crafted. The open space resembles a reading room, and there is a small concert almost every week.

"Telescope on a Hill," the Kitakyushu Museum of Art by Arata Isozaki, is located in Kokura and is the first public art museum in western Japan.

Image credit: Kitakyushu City Museum of Art kmma.jp

Even if you just walk around Fukuoka city, you can pass by many classic buildings from time to time. For example, Fukuoka Bank Headquarters, Kisho Kurokawa’s landmark. If you’ve been to Paris’s Spurekosen, that was where he got his inspiration.

There is also the Aldo Rossi Imperial Hotel, which stands out beautifully along the Fukuoka riverfront.

Image credit: 有方

If you’re also an art or architecture fan, do not hesitate to add this to your itinerary: take a JR limited train, cross the five prefectures of northern Kyushu, and on top of shopping and buying, add a little enrichment. Isn’t that great?

- End -