Shōwa

Mimasaka-Takio Station in Tsuyama keeps its original 1928 wooden building, a registered cultural property. The opening scene of the final Tora-san film was shot here.

Hokoku Station in Takahashi is named for the scholar Yamada Hokoku, said to be Japan's first station named after a person. Its 1928 building is a cultural property.

The 1930 director's residence at Nagashima Aiseien, Japan's first national Hansen's disease sanatorium, pairs a Western wing with Japanese rooms. Registered 2019.

At the heart of Nagashima Aiseien stands its 1930 administration building, with Expressionist touches. Since 2003 it has held the History Museum. Registered 2019.

On Nagashima's north shore, the 1930 reception building was where new arrivals first entered, examined and disinfected, before a week's confinement. Registered 2019.

Beside the bathhouse at Nagashima Aiseien stands the 1930 laundry, where residents washed bedding and clothing as assigned work. Built in concrete. Registered 2019.

The 1930 Hide Bathhouse at Nagashima Aiseien still has ceiling steam vents, a skylight and, rare for prewar Japan, hot-water showers. Registered in 2019.

The Additional Metering Room at the Handayama Water Distribution Reservoir in Okayama City is a hexagonal reinforced concrete structure built in 1939. Located within the Handayama Botanical Garden, this registered tangible cultural property faithfully echoes the design of its 1905 Meiji-era predecessor while employing Shōwa-period materials. It is part of a remarkable ensemble of historic waterworks structures from Japan's eighth modern water supply system.

Located in the Onbara Highlands of Kagamino Town, Okayama Prefecture, the Heisakubara Power Station Onbara Reservoir Dam Spillway is a 132-meter reinforced concrete channel completed in 1928. It safely carries surplus water from the historic Onbara Dam—Japan's oldest hydroelectric buttress dam—down to the Onbara River below. Featuring elegant curves and stone retaining walls, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property is a vital piece of Japan's early hydroelectric heritage.

Tucked into the highland forests of northern Okayama, the Heisakubara Power Station Trunk Waterway Sediment Basin is a modest reinforced-concrete structure completed in 1928. Located about 270 metres downstream of the Onbara Dam — Japan's oldest surviving hydroelectric buttress dam — it forms one essential link in a chain of ten Registered Tangible Cultural Properties that together preserve the engineering legacy of early Showa-era hydropower in rural Japan.

Explore the Hirasakubara Power Plant Head Tank in Kagamino, Okayama — a 1928 reinforced concrete water tank that powers Chugoku Electric's second-oldest hydroelectric facility, registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

Discover the elegant 1928 granite retaining walls of Hirasakubara Power Station in Kagamino, Okayama. These 68-meter stone structures support Japan's oldest surviving hydroelectric buttress dam system in stunning mountain scenery.

Set on the Onbara Plateau at 700 meters elevation in Kagamino-cho, Okayama Prefecture, the Main Building of the Hirasakubara Power Station has been generating electricity continuously since 1928. This functional reinforced concrete structure was designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006, together with nine related facilities including the historic Onbara Dam, Japan's oldest surviving buttress dam built for hydroelectric generation, forming one of the country's most comprehensive industrial heritage ensembles.