Why visit Moka and Motegi
The Moka Railway is a 42-kilometre country line from Shimodate, in Ibaraki, through Moka and Mashiko to its terminus at Motegi. On weekends and holidays a 1933 steam locomotive hauls brown passenger coaches along it, past rice paddies, cherry trees and fields of yellow rapeseed. Moka station itself is built in the shape of a giant locomotive, with a small railway museum beside it.
Moka is also Japan’s leading strawberry-growing municipality. From December to May its greenhouses open for all-you-can-eat picking of Tochiotome and newer varieties.
At the end of the line, Motegi is a quiet hill town best known for Mobility Resort Motegi — the Honda-owned circuit, called Twin Ring Motegi until 2022, which hosts the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix and Super GT, and whose Honda Collection Hall displays some 300 restored motorcycles, cars and racing machines.
How long to stay
A day is enough for the steam train with a stop in Moka or Mashiko. Racing fans and families using the resort’s forest activities often stay a night at Motegi.
Where to base yourself
Moka has business hotels near the station and expressway. In Motegi there is a hotel inside the resort and a newer roadside-station hotel in the town. Utsunomiya, about an hour away, is the alternative.
Moka & Motegi highlights
- Riding the SL Moka steam train
- The locomotive-shaped station and SL Kyuroku-kan museum
- All-you-can-eat strawberry picking, December to May
- Honda Collection Hall at Mobility Resort Motegi
- MotoGP and Super GT race weekends
- Motegi’s roadside station, with yuzu ramen and a view of passing trains
