Shōwa
昭和Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Shōwa period (1926 – 1989). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
A 1953 timber rental apartment in Zoshigaya, Tokyo, registered in 2018, where Tezuka Osamu lived for three and a half years, notable for its high-quality postwar design.
Nihon Gakuen Building No. 1 in Setagaya, Tokyo, a concrete school of 1936, has a dignified main entrance lined with square columns rising the full three storeys.
A timber church of 1936 near Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, with a battlemented tower, a rose-window relief and a hammer-beam roof inside. Registered in 2003 after repairs.
Rebuilt in 1929 after the 1923 earthquake, this reinforced concrete Gothic church on Kasuga-dori, Tokyo, puts a kindergarten below the sanctuary. Registered in 1998.
Asakusa St. John's Church in Kuramae, Tokyo: a 1929 concrete Anglican church with Gothic buttresses, restored in 1955 and open for prayer when its doors are open.
Tokyo Holy Cross Church Sanctuary in Setagaya: a 1961 timber chapel by Antonin Raymond's office with a column-free laminated vault; registered in 2025.
Tokyo All Saints Church Chapel in Sengoku, Bunkyo: a 1931 concrete Anglican chapel by Bergamini, rebuilt on its frame after 1945, its bell tower a local landmark.
Mejirogaoka Church Chapel in Shimo-Ochiai, Tokyo: a 1950 Baptist chapel by Endo Arata, Wright's assistant, with great longitudinal arches and a pointed bell tower.
The 1939 former Hachijo branch office of Tokyo, an H-plan timber building registered in 1999 and now the island's museum of history and folklore.
Built in 1927 from a Kobe merchant's bequest and designed by Ito Chuta, this Romanesque hall in Kunitachi, Tokyo, hides carved creatures around its arches.
A 53-square-metre timber gatehouse of 1931 with a French tile roof and half-timbered walls, standing on the central axis of the Kunitachi campus in Tokyo.
Completed in 1929 for Tokyo University of Commerce, this two-storey block in Kunitachi wraps a courtyard and echoes the Romanesque idiom of its famous neighbour.
Discover Blue Box House, a 1971 Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Tokyo's Setagaya designed by acclaimed architect Mayumi Miyawaki—a cantilevered blue cube floating over the Kokubunji cliff line and an iconic example of his celebrated Box Series.
Hori Shoten in Shimbashi, Tokyo, is a reinforced concrete office block of 1932, registered in 1998. Scratch tile walls, banded windows, a cafe on the ground floor.
The Matsui Residence gate and wall in Nishikata, Bunkyo, Tokyo, date from about 1932 and were registered in 2024. A doubled tile roof meets a 20-metre concrete wall.
The Mayuyama Ryusendo store of 1960 in Kyobashi, Tokyo, designed by Tohata Kenzo for an art dealer, frames its black plaster walls in stone with antique art in mind.
The Kengyo no Ma in Shinjuku, Tokyo, is the 1948 study of koto master Miyagi Michio, a small hipped-roof building with deep eaves and a refined six-mat room.
Museum 1999 in Shibuya, Tokyo, the former Chiba residence of 1934, fronts its dormered concrete block with a conical hall, a rare early Showa mansion in the city.
Morita Family Residence Wooden Fence is an early Showa fence in Akiruno, Tokyo, running 19 metres from the gate, with black battened boards on a stone base.
Doctor Mori's House in Bunkyo, Tokyo, a small timber house of 1951, is an early masterpiece of architect Seike Kiyoshi, with a free plan of sliding doors.