Meiji

Built in 1907 by banker Tsushima Gen'emon, this 19-room wooden mansion in Kanagi, Aomori, is novelist Dazai Osamu's birthplace and an Important Cultural Property.

Standing on the northeastern tip of Honshu, Shiriyazaki Lighthouse is a graceful brick tower designed by British engineer Richard Henry Brunton and first lit in 1876. As Tōhoku's earliest Western-style lighthouse and Japan's tallest active brick lighthouse at 32.8 meters, it pioneered the country's first fog signal and first electric beacon. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2022, the lighthouse sits within a windswept moorland where Aomori's natural-monument Kandachime horses graze, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tsugaru Strait.

Discover the Former Fifty-Ninth Bank Head Office Main Building in Hirosaki, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property of Japan. Built in 1904 by master builder Horie Sakichi, this stunning Renaissance-style wooden building features rare kinkarakami ceilings and exquisite Japanese-Western hybrid craftsmanship.

Discover the Hirosaki Gakuin Foreign Missionary Residence, an Important Cultural Property built in 1906 in Aomori Prefecture. This elegant Western-style building with its distinctive octagonal turret showcases the fusion of American and Japanese architectural traditions in Meiji-era Tohoku.

Ishiba Ryokan in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, is the city's oldest surviving inn, founded in 1879. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, this Meiji-era wooden building features a unique indoor drum bridge, antique clock, and traditional Tsugaru-style garden. Located just five minutes on foot from Hirosaki Castle, it offers an authentic taste of castle-town heritage and hospitality.

The Shin-Mutsu Ryokan Main Building in Konakano, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built around 1897. Originally a licensed pleasure house called Shin-Mutsu-Rou in one of Tohoku's most prominent entertainment districts, the two-story wooden building features a distinctive Western-influenced Y-shaped staircase within a central atrium and an elegant karahafu entrance, blending Japanese and Western architectural sensibilities.

Discover the Former Tōtōmi Province Hōtokusha Public Hall in Kakegawa, Shizuoka — a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1903. This unique Japanese-Western hybrid wooden hall embodies the Hōtoku philosophy of Ninomiya Sontoku.

On Tōgō Beach in Numazu, the Former Numazu Imperial Villa Garden was an imperial retreat across three eras. Its surviving 26-room West Annex stands amid black pines.

Yuki no Mune, an 1899 wing at Arai Ryokan in Shuzenji, sits between two streams from the Hana no Ike pond. Its bath wing has a curved mukuri roof with a smoke vent.

Watari no Hashi is an 1899 roofed drum bridge at Arai Ryokan in Shuzenji, linking Tsuki no Mune and Yuki no Mune. Its gapped board floor reveals the stream as you cross.

Ume-goten (Plum Palace) is a Kyoto-style sukiya-zukuri building within Rakujuen Park in Mishima City, Shizuoka Prefecture, built around 1890 as part of Prince Komatsu Akihito's villa. Named for the plum tree trunk used as the alcove post in its main room, this National Registered Tangible Cultural Property features a distinctive skip-floor design utilizing the site's natural elevation changes.

The Gaisen Kinen Mon is a brick triumphal gate built in 1906 to commemorate the Russo-Japanese War victory, standing at the entrance to Rokusho Shrine in Shibukawa, Hamamatsu City. As one of only two surviving war triumphal gates in Japan, it is registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The Kangyodo Tunnel in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, is a hand-carved stone tunnel completed in 1910 during the Meiji era. Built as part of the former main road connecting Atami and Ito, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property features horseshoe-shaped portals and refined stonework that exemplify early 20th-century Japanese civil engineering.

The Kikugawa Red Brick Warehouse in Shizuoka Prefecture, built around 1900 as part of the Fuji Seicha tea company's Horinouchi factory, is a two-story brick industrial heritage building where Japan's tea refinement process was first mechanized. Traces of the gougumi tea-blending apparatus remain inside, making it the only surviving structure of its kind from the Meiji era. Designated as Kikugawa's first National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2014. Three minutes on foot from JR Kikugawa Station.

Located on the Izusan hillside in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, the Former Nanki Bunko is a Meiji-era Renaissance-style wooden building originally constructed in 1899 as Japan's first Western-style private library by Tokugawa Yorimichi, the 15th head of the Kishu Tokugawa family. Relocated three times over more than a century, this nationally registered tangible cultural property now serves as part of a Hoshino Resorts hotel, blending Japanese and Western architectural traditions.

The Tsurutani Family Residence Main House in Kaketsuka, Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, is a two-story wooden merchant dwelling built around 1884. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, this former sake brewery preserves the architectural character of early Meiji-era Kaketsuka — a historic port town at the mouth of the Tenryu River once known as the Little Edo of Enshu.

The Tokaido Nanushi no Yakata (Koike Family Residence) in Yui, Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City is the former home of the Koike family, who served as nanushi (village headmen) of Teraō village throughout the Edo period. Built in the Meiji era as a single-story wooden farmhouse, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 1998. Features such as namako-tile walls, a large door with a wicket gate, a den-no-ji four-room layout, and a massive central pillar preserve the dignity of a headman's residence and the spirit of the old Tokaido.

Once the Meiji Emperor’s chamber at the Iida honjin of Arai-juku, this shoin moved to Hōkō-ji in 1885, with a 24-mat antechamber and a raised dais room. Registered 2019.

Office of the head of the Hōkō-ji branch of Rinzai Zen, joined to the Great Kuri by a covered passage. With the Shika-ryō it forms the working quarters. Registered 2019.

Joined to the Founder’s Hall, this small copper-roofed votive hall honours the founder Mumon Gensen, with packed bracketing and carved beams. Registered 2019.