Shōwa

This small 1928 concrete bridge once carried Toyohashi's drinking water across the Ōe River, its sphere-topped posts and rounded parapet adding rare polish.

Five concrete slow sand filter basins from 1929 still treat Toyohashi's water at the active Kotakano plant, a rare survival of gentle biological filtration.

This 1929 pump room at the Kotakano plant looks like solid masonry, with crisp geometric ornament around its windows. It still runs, dosing chemicals since 1981.

At the head of Toyohashi's first water system, this 1929 pump room shows rows of arched windows and stone-like, tile-edged walls, quietly Romanesque in feel.

On high ground east of Kotakano, this 1929 earth-covered reservoir fed the city by gravity, its tile-clad gatehouses with pointed-arch doorways adding grace.

Discover the Nagoya Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (Catholic Nunoike Church), a nationally registered tangible cultural property featuring twin 50-meter spires, German and Italian stained glass, and striking exposed-concrete Gothic architecture designed by Yamashita Toshiro in 1962.

Discover the Nagoya Port Bascule Bridge (Nagoya-kō Haneage-bashi), Japan's oldest surviving drawbridge, built in 1927. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property and Modern Industrial Heritage site stands frozen in time with its span raised at 78 degrees in the heart of Nagoya's historic port district.

Discover Nagoya Ceramic Hall, a 1932 Expressionist landmark registered as a Tangible Cultural Property. Explore export ceramics, Art Deco interiors, and Nagoya's ceramic trade history.

Completed in 1932 as the main building of the former Nanzan Junior High School, Reiners Hall was designed by Swiss architect Max Hinder. Featuring distinctive ochre terrazzo walls and unique triangular parapet cutouts, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 1998. Today it houses the Nanzan Archives, preserving the history of one of Japan's leading Catholic educational institutions.

Built in 1934 as the joint sales office of the Japan Ceramics Industry Federation, this reinforced concrete office building in Nagoya's Higashi Ward features lavish ceramic tile and travertine interiors with refined Art Deco detailing. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2015, it stands as a testament to Nagoya's historic role as Japan's largest ceramics export hub.

A 1958 Registered Tangible Cultural Property on Nagoya's Sakura-dori. The Yamashita office gave this modernist block ribbon windows, brown tile, and a curving stair.

Discover the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Okazaki Church in Aichi Prefecture, a 1953 wooden church designed by the Vories Architectural Office. Registered as a national tangible cultural property, this charming building features a distinctive red-tiled roof, white walls, and a cross-topped spire.

The Japan Evangelical Lutheran Resurrection Church in Nagoya's Higashi Ward is a wooden chapel designed by the Vories Architectural Office and completed in 1953. Rebuilt on Easter Sunday to replace a predecessor lost in wartime air raids, it is the only surviving Vories-designed building in Nagoya and was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2012. Its exposed scissors truss roof and iconic cruciform window exemplify the clear, dignified design that defines this architectural gem.

The former Noma Post Office (1931) on the Chita Peninsula is a wooden building with gabled dormers and clapboard walls, a Registered Cultural Property since 2015.

Standing inside Tokugawa-en garden in Nagoya, the Hōsa Bunko Old Storehouse was built in 1935 by combining two existing earthen storehouses on the Owari Tokugawa Ozone estate into one. Designed by architect Yoshio Yoshimoto, it blends traditional Japanese exterior styling with Western-style king-post truss roofing — a fascinating hybrid of Edo and modern architecture. After serving for decades as the working repository for the Owari Tokugawa family's celebrated book collection, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2014 and now welcomes visitors as the entrance hall of the Hōsa Library.

The 1929 shoin of Hōshuin, linked to the main hall by a veranda, is a refined reception hall whose upper room sets a wide alcove and study nook under coffered ceilings.

A tiled wooden wall about 22 meters long at the street edge of the Horibe Residence in Inuyama, built in the early Showa era. It frames the approach to the samurai house.

In Inuyama's castle town, the Miyataké family's 1931 earthen-walled storehouse, registered in 2006, keeps hand-laid cobble footings and a heavy vault-like iron door.

In Inuyama's castle town, this 1930s sukiya house turns on a faithful copy of the famed Kyoto tearoom Yūin. A Registered Cultural Property, it stays a private home.

A 48-meter timber-and-tile wall wraps a residence in Inuyama's castle town. Built in 1931, it is a Registered Cultural Property valued for the historic streetscape.