Shōwa

Northernmost of eight 1934 rice warehouses by the Omono River, Training Building No. 1 was a national grain store and now serves as an Akita University of Art studio.

Third in the Shinya row of 1934 gabled rice warehouses, Training Building No. 3 was remodeled as a craft-art and industrial-design studio after 1994.

Second in a row of eight 1934 rice warehouses on reclaimed Omono River land, Training Building No. 2 stored grain until 1990 and now serves Akita University of Art.

Seventh in the row, the Creative Workshop Hall wears storehouse-style walls and an insulating roof. Adapted with new windows, this 1934 warehouse keeps its old look.

Fifth in the row, the Gallery Hall spans its width with a braced Japanese truss at the center and Western trusses at the sides. Built 1934, it now holds exhibitions.

About 45 by 15 meters, this 1934 warehouse kept its east eave, once a rail platform for rice. Fourth in the Shinya row, it now hosts the crafts-experience programs.

Sixth in the row, the Community Exchange Hall joins the university's Open Center, its exhibition area and hall hosting public lectures inside a 1934 rice warehouse.

Discover the Akita City Araya Library Warehouse in Akita Prefecture—a beautifully preserved 1934 wooden rice granary registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property. Explore its unique Japanese-Western hybrid timber frame and the creative cultural district of Araya.

The Former Ogata Village Settler Preview Farmhouse in Akita Prefecture is a 1969 model home built for prospective settlers to preview their future housing on land reclaimed from Hachirōgata, once Japan's second-largest lake. As Ogata Village's first Registered Tangible Cultural Property, this iconic triangle-roofed building preserves the original landscape of the reclaimed land and the history of Japan's postwar agricultural modernization.

Completed in 1928 beside the main house, this compact wing sets two Western rooms and two Japanese rooms across a central corridor, behind ochre roughcast walls.

The North Fermentation Storehouse at Kunibanzai Shuzo, Akita's last working brewery, is an early Showa earthen vault whose decorated doors echo its older neighbours.

The smallest building at Kunibanzai Shuzo, this early-Showa koji room grows the mould that starts each batch of sake, its plaster walls capped by English-bond brick.

A 12-meter-diameter reinforced concrete circular water distribution works sitting at the apex of the Rokugo alluvial fan in Misato Town, Akita Prefecture. Completed in 1938, its 180 inner-cylinder orifices and outer partition plates have divided the Maruko River among ten communities for over 85 years — and it was designated as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in December 2024.

Tenshikan, located along the Meiji Centennial Road in Kosaka, Akita Prefecture, is a Western-style nursery school built in 1932 for the children of Kosaka Mine workers. Featuring German-style clapboard walls and a Renaissance-inspired entrance porch, it is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Free to visit, it stands alongside other heritage landmarks including the former Kosaka Mine Office and the Korakukan theater.

Dedicated in 1949, the Tohoku Bible Baptist Jumonji Church is the only surviving building in Akita Prefecture designed by the renowned Vories Architectural Office. This single-story wooden chapel features a gable roof with bell tower and a column-free worship space, and was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2018.

Standing on a hilltop overlooking the western shore of Lake Towada, the Towada Hotel Main Building is a magnificent three-story wooden structure completed in 1938. Built ahead of the planned 1940 Tokyo Olympics, it was crafted by 80 master shrine carpenters from three prefectures using abundant natural Akita cedar. It was designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2003.

Built in 1938, last of a row of warehouses, keeping a number with nothing left to count. A king post truss inside, washed granite on the signboard gable.

The Noshiro City Council Chamber, located in Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, is a two-story wooden public building completed in 1950. Featuring a Queen Post truss roof, geometric facade, and Western-inspired design executed in local timber, it embodies the heritage of a city once known as the Timber Capital of the Orient. It was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2007.

Completed in 1950 after the devastating Noshiro Great Fire of 1949, this three-story reinforced concrete city hall was designed by Kiyoshi Muto, the structural engineer later celebrated as the father of Japan's skyscraper architecture. Its facade openly expresses the Rahmen rigid-frame structure, exemplifying postwar modernist civic design. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2007, the building continues to serve as an active government facility.

Discover Ryotei Kaneyu, a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Noshiro, Akita. Built in 1937, this grand Japanese-style restaurant showcases extraordinary natural Akita cedar craftsmanship, including a breathtaking 110-tatami banquet hall. Free admission.