The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, designed by local architect Arata Isozaki and completed in 1974, is as much an architectural attraction as a cultural one. Isozaki's design — bold concrete volumes cantilevered over a forested hillside — was unusual for Japanese institutional architecture of the period and established his international reputation. The building is a significant work of 20th-century architecture in its own right.
The permanent collection focuses on 20th-century Japanese and Western art, with particular strength in post-war Japanese painting. Temporary exhibitions rotate throughout the year. The museum is in the Tobata area, accessible from Tobata Station, and the forested hillside setting gives it a pleasant approach through greenery. The combination of the Isozaki building and the collection makes this the most intellectually engaging cultural stop in Kitakyushu for travellers with a serious interest in art.