Shōwa

Stretching 354 meters into the sea from the northern coast of Kuroshima in Taketomi, Okinawa, Iko Pier is a historic stone-and-concrete pier registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2005. At high tide, visitors experience the magical sensation of walking on water, making it one of the most stunning scenic spots in the Yaeyama Islands.

Designed in 1961 by architect Nakaza Hisao, the Ufudō Gate at the Okinawa Hotel is a vermilion Ryukyuan red-tiled gate reminiscent of the famous Shureimon. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024, it embodies the architectural heritage of the Ryukyu Kingdom at Okinawa's oldest hotel.

Built in 1961 to a design by architect Nakaza Hisao, the Okinawa Hotel Kawara-Ishigaki is a 92-meter stone wall of Ryukyu limestone crowned with traditional red roof tiles. Encircling Okinawa's oldest hotel in the Odō district of Naha, it forms a distinctly Okinawan streetscape together with the Ufudō Gate. It was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024.

The Ryokan-tō at the Okinawa Hotel, founded in 1941 as Okinawa's first tourist hotel, is a three-story reinforced-concrete building completed in 1961 and designed by pioneering architect Nakaza Hisao, the inventor of the iconic hana block. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024, the building preserves early examples of hana blocks, projecting eaves, and sculptured balconies that define Okinawan modern architecture — and uniquely, guests can stay overnight to experience this living cultural heritage firsthand.

Built around 1949, the Okinawa Hotel Brick Building is a rare surviving structure constructed from bricks gathered across war-ravaged Okinawa. Designed by Nakaza Hisao — inventor of the iconic hana block — and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2024, it marks the birthplace of Okinawa's postwar hotel industry, founded by Miyazato Teizō, the 'Father of Okinawa Tourism.'

On Kuroshima, this 1938 concrete tank at the Kamiyama Residence held rain caught from the main house roof by bamboo gutters, an answer to scarce island water.

Discover the Higashimukai Family Residence Water Tank, a registered tangible cultural property in Yonaguni, Okinawa. This reinforced concrete rainwater cistern reveals the ingenuity of daily life on Japan's remote westernmost island.

Built in 1935 to honor Tōyama Kyūzō, the pioneer of Okinawa's overseas emigration movement, this reinforced concrete building in Kin Town features modernist design elements including inverted beam ceilings and round windows by architect Ōshiro Ryūtarō. One of Okinawa's rare surviving pre-war structures, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2021 and now serves as a museum showcasing emigration history.

Discover Nagomi Tower on Taketomi Island, a nationally registered tangible cultural property built in 1953. This small concrete observation tower overlooks the red-tiled rooftops of one of Japan's most beautifully preserved Ryukyuan villages in the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa.

Discover Nishi Sanbashi, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on Taketomi Island, Okinawa. Built in 1938 for rice farming voyages to Iriomote Island, this 105-meter stone pier is now one of Japan's most scenic sunset spots overlooking the Yaeyama Islands.

Niroku-so in Kitadaito Village, Okinawa, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property originally built around 1940 as a staff clubhouse for the island's phosphate mining company. Now operating as a charming guesthouse, it offers a rare chance to stay within a piece of Japan's industrial heritage. Discover this historic building set among the National Historic Site of the Kitadaito Island phosphate mining ruins.

Discover the Yagi Family Residence Asagi in Yaese Town, Okinawa — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property where traditional Ryukyuan architecture, red-tiled roofs, and authentic Okinawan soba converge in a living heritage experience.

The Yagi-ke Jutaku Hinpun is a freestanding screen wall built of cut Ryukyu limestone in Yaese, Okinawa. Constructed in 1952 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2009 alongside the main house, detached pavilion, well, and stone wall, it preserves a uniquely Okinawan domestic architecture that traces back to Chinese folding-screen gates—and which today welcomes diners at a beloved soba restaurant.

Discover Allen Memorial Hall in Kuji, Iwate — a 1941 Western-style residence designed by renowned architect William Merrell Vories for American missionary Thomasine Allen. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property showcasing rare early Showa-era Western domestic architecture in the Tohoku region.

Discover the Iwate Prefectural Public Hall, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Morioka designed by renowned architect Sato Koichi. Explore its Art Deco interiors, Neo-Gothic tower, and nearly a century of civic history.

Built in 1931 to mark a father's seventieth birthday, this Takano parlor in Mizusawa has a carved hawk-and-pine transom and a garden veranda, linked to Choei's residence.

Built around 1941 on the Takano grounds in Mizusawa, this guest wing is prized for delicate kumiko glass screens and a coved plaster ceiling, linked to the Kokian.

Named for the pen name of scholar Takano Choei, this tiny 1932 earthen-walled library in Mizusawa has a copper door and iron grilles to guard his legacy.

The Goto-Haku Memorial Community Hall in Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture, is recognized as Japan's first building to bear the name 'kominkan' (community hall). Built in 1941 by Shoriki Matsutaro as a tribute to statesman Goto Shinpei, this two-story wooden structure features distinctive half-timbered gable walls and layered rooflines. It was designated a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2019.

Bandaikan in Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property that began as a puppet theater in 1909 and was rebuilt as a cinema in 1956. As the only surviving active cinema from Iwate's golden age of film, it now hosts cultural events including the Cassiopeia Film Festival and jazz concerts.