Shōwa

International Christian University Taizanso Garage, a clapboard car house of about 1936 just inside the villa gate, a registered relic of suburban motoring.

International Christian University Taizanso Shoin, a tiled 1936 reception wing with two tatami rooms and verandas, repaired after the 1966 fire and used for tea.

Built in 1930 to hold the observatory's books, this two-storey concrete block at Mitaka in Tokyo shows scratch tile, slim continuous canopies and one round window.

Completed in 1930 at Mitaka in Tokyo, the tower known as the Einstein Tower is itself the telescope tube, sending sunlight 20 metres down to a basement spectrograph.

Kosugiyu is a working public bathhouse in the Kōenji district of Tokyo, in continuous operation since 1933 and listed in 2020 as a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property. With its temple-style curved gable, 287-square-metre wooden frame, signature milk bath, well-fed cold pool, and painted Mount Fuji on the wall, this is one of only three sentō within Tokyo to receive such a designation — a rare chance to soak in genuine architectural heritage for the price of an ordinary bath ticket.

The Gotoh Museum Main Building, designed by master architect Yoshida Isoya and completed in 1960, stands as a remarkable reinterpretation of Heian-period palace architecture in reinforced concrete. Located in Kaminoge, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, the building incorporates elements of shinden-zukuri court design — large round columns, shitomi-do shutters, wide verandas, and deep horizontal eaves — into a thoroughly modern structure. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2017, it houses a collection of about 5,000 works including five National Treasures such as the celebrated Tale of Genji Picture Scrolls, set within an expansive garden along the Kokubunji Cliff Line.

Hiroo Elementary School in Shibuya is a 1932 reinforced-concrete schoolhouse from Tokyo's post-earthquake rebuilding, still in use with a rooftop fire-watch tower.

A 1932 Western house in Tokyo's Sendagi by architect Yabe Matakichi: German-influenced design, stained glass of warships, and links to a beriberi doctor.

The Shimura Residence's registered gate and 57-meter Oya-stone wall in Seijo, Tokyo, built around 1939 and topped with a hedge, recall how the suburb was planned.

In Tokyo's Shiba district by Zōjō-ji, Jōgyō-in's 1931 ossuary copies a wooden mausoleum's roof, cusped windows and carved porch in concrete. Registered in 2022.

Above Senzoku Pond in Ota, Tokyo, the main house of Shofuso is an early-Showa sukiya home with low eaves, a wide veranda and choice timber. Registered in 2003.

The Shofuso Machiai in Ota, Tokyo is a cedar-log waiting arbor, a registered property where tea guests paused before an early-Showa gathering near Senzoku Pond.

An early-Shōwa gate near Tokyo's Senzoku Pond, barely 1.7 m wide, with a rivet-studded door, a carved frog-leg strut, and reused timber from ancient Hōryū-ji.

The Showa Era Life Museum in Ota, Tokyo, is a 1951 family home built with a public housing loan within 18 tsubo, shown with its household goods as a museum.

Shinkaiya in Sengoku, Bunkyo, Tokyo, an early Showa soba shop, keeps its earth-floored dining room and upstairs rooms behind a tall front of lattice and railings.

Below Tokyo Tower in Higashi-Azabu, Shinkoin's 1955 wooden main hall blends temple carpentry with modern touches, registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

The 1959 book warehouse of Shinchosha near Kagurazaka, Tokyo, registered in 2025, built to hold five million volumes and matched in height to the main building.

The 1957 head office of Shinchosha near Kagurazaka, Tokyo, registered in 2025, with a dignified glazed-tile exterior and a lobby relief of the world's scripts.

Shintomicho Tekkinro Store in Chuo City, Tokyo, is a wooden restaurant of about 1949. Its black fence and stone gate wall hold the line of a lost geisha quarter.

This reinforced concrete house in Bunkyo Ward was begun as a home and law office and caught by the 1923 earthquake mid-build. Nationally registered in 1998.