Meiji

Discover the Former Arinaga Residence Annex in Kunisaki, Oita Prefecture—a Meiji-era wooden building registered as a national tangible cultural property. Explore its elegant architecture, Rokugo Manzan Buddhist heritage, and the story of Petro Kasui Kibe nearby.

The main hall of the Higashi Betsuin in Usa, rebuilt in 1880 after fire. One of Kyushu's largest Shin Buddhist halls, with a broad plan and a decorated inner sanctuary.

First lit in 1901, Sekizaki Lighthouse is Oita Prefecture's oldest lighthouse and one of only four all-iron lighthouses still active in Japan. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2022, it stands at the tip of the Saganoseki Peninsula overlooking the Hoyo Strait, surrounded by 800 wild camellia trees.

The Bungo Channel Maritime Museum in Saiki City, Oita Prefecture, is a Western-style brick building constructed in 1904 as a rest house for the keepers of the Mizunokojima Lighthouse. Designated as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, this Meiji-era structure now houses fascinating exhibits including a Fresnel lens formerly used in the lighthouse and a unique collection of migratory bird specimens, preserving the maritime heritage of the Bungo Channel.

A 172-meter stone perimeter wall built in 1904 on the Tsurumi Peninsula in Saiki City, Oita Prefecture. Originally enclosing the rest house compound of lighthouse keepers who maintained the Mizunokojima Lighthouse in the Bungo Strait, the wall features distinctive concrete cap stones and has been a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 1998. The adjacent Maritime Museum displays the lighthouse's Fresnel lens and exhibits on the lives of the keepers.

Discover the Former Shitsu Relief Institution (Kyū Shitsu Kyūjōin), an Important Cultural Property and UNESCO World Heritage component in Nagasaki. Built by French priest Father de Rotz in 1883 to empower local women, this historic vocational facility features unique De Rotz Wall construction and tells the story of faith and social welfare in Japan's Sotome district.

Discover Shitsu Church (出津教会堂), a National Important Cultural Property and UNESCO World Heritage component in Nagasaki. Built in 1882 by French missionary Father Marc Marie de Rotz, this brick church with white plastered walls stands on a hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, symbolizing the end of 250 years of Hidden Christian faith.

The Former Latin Seminary, located within the grounds of Oura Church in Nagasaki, was built in 1875 to train Japanese Catholic priests following the end of Japan's centuries-long ban on Christianity. Designed by French missionary Father de Rotz in a distinctive timber-framed brick style, this three-story Important Cultural Property now serves as the Oura Church Christian Museum.

Discover Komaneki Bridge, a graceful 1903 stone arch bridge on the campus of Nagasaki University. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property and the last surviving structure of the former Nagasaki Higher Commercial School.

Standing proudly along a national highway in central Shimabara, Nagasaki, the Maruichi Funeral Hall is a three-story dozō-zukuri storehouse with an extraordinary biography. Built as a Kobayashi family sake brewery in the late Meiji era, it was later relocated and reused successively as a silk mill, a railway property, an incense factory, and finally a funeral hall. With a ridge height of 14 meters and a footprint of 580 square meters, it is among the largest surviving Meiji-era timber storehouses in Kyushu, and was added to Japan's Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2014 for its remarkable scale, layered history, and well-preserved late-Meiji character.

The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard Hammerhead Crane, also known as the Giant Cantilever Crane, is a 62-meter-tall, 150-ton-capacity electric crane imported from Scotland in 1909. The first hammerhead crane installed in Japan, it is internationally recognized as the world's oldest hammerhead crane still in active operation. It was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2003 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage component of Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution in 2015. Visitors can admire its towering silhouette from Nagasaki Mizube no Mori Park and harbor cruises.

The Yumiharidake Observatory, perched atop Mount Yumihari in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, was built in 1965 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Saikai National Park. Designed by renowned structural engineer Tsuboi Yoshikatsu using HP shell construction and adorned with a relief by sculptor Hongō Shin, it was registered as a national tangible cultural property in 2025. Visitors enjoy panoramic views of the Kujukushima islands, Sasebo Port, and the city skyline, along with nightscapes recognized among Japan's Top 100 Night Views.

Discover Ryotei Harumi, a Meiji-era ryotei in Nagasaki City registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2015, where elegant shoin-style architecture meets the historic shippoku cuisine born from Japan's 400 years of cross-cultural exchange.

Discover the Ashizawa No. 3 Stone Masonry Check Dam in Omi Village, Nagano Prefecture — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1887 using traditional dry stone masonry techniques, still protecting the valley after over 135 years.

A Meiji-era stone masonry erosion control dam built on the Ai-shimizu-zawa tributary of the Ushibuse River in Matsumoto, Nagano. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2021, this 7.8-meter-tall, 17.5-meter-long structure features an elegantly curved spillway and is a still-functioning relic of the Meiji-era Ministry of Home Affairs sabō (erosion control) project.

On the west edge of the Ozawa compound in Matsumoto's Hofukuji town, this 1908 storehouse shows rafter shapes through its eave plaster, its plan shaped wholly by storage.

Discover the Former Reischauer Family Villa, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Karuizawa, Nagano. Built in the late Meiji era for Presbyterian missionary August Karl Reischauer, father of U.S. Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer, this rustic cedar-bark cottage embodies the spirit of early foreign summer retreats in Japan's most celebrated highland resort.

A small storehouse built for fumigation beside the gate of the former Kobayashi headman's residence near Nagano, registered for its unusual Western-style eaves.

In Motoyama post town on the old Nakasendō, the Kobayashi inn lifts its upper floor on two rare tiers of projecting beams, rebuilt after the 1869 great fire.

A small early-Meiji wooden hall in Nagano City, the Gomyo Family Detached Parlor has a full shoin set and a high hexagonal coffered ceiling. Registered in 2010.