Shōwa

Discover Joranjuku Guest Hall (Gansho-kaku) in Takeo, Saga Prefecture — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed by Endo Arata, disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Explore its wartime history, elegant architecture, and legacy of cross-cultural education at the foot of Mt. Mifune.

Discover Joran Juku, a registered tangible cultural property in Takeo, Saga Prefecture. Designed by Endo Arata, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, this 1942 school building blends Prairie-style architecture with Japanese educational history and Sino-Japanese cultural exchange.

Discover the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Ogi Church in Ogi City, Saga Prefecture, a 1938 wooden chapel designed by the renowned Vories Architectural Office and registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property.

Discover Mizuno Ryokan Kanfutei, a 1938 seaside villa turned ryokan registered as a national tangible cultural property in Karatsu, Saga. Learn about its elegant Showa-era architecture, samurai gate from Nagoya Castle, and ocean views of the Genkai Sea.

Discover Asahi Bridge in Tokorozawa, Saitama — a 1930 reinforced concrete bridge with elegant Art Deco design, built on the historic Hikōki Shindō road that linked the train station to Japan's first airfield. A nationally registered tangible cultural property.

The Heiwa no To at Menuma Shoden is a two-storied pagoda built in 1958 to mourn the war dead and pray for peace, a fine postwar work made entirely of zelkova.

Discover Koike Tobacco Shop, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Chichibu, Saitama. Built in the early Showa era, this ornate Western-style commercial building now houses a heritage hotel and café on Bamba-dori, the historic approach to Chichibu Shrine.

Discover Kondo Dental Clinic, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Chichibu, Saitama. Built in 1927, this charming half-timber-style building blends Western and Japanese design and remains an active dental practice to this day.

The Former Sakata Clinic in Menuma, Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, is a reinforced concrete obstetrics and internal medicine clinic built in 1931. Featuring scratch-tile facades and Art Deco interior fittings, it is registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property as a precious example of regional modern architecture. Located near the National Treasure Menuma Shodenzan temple, it offers a rare window into early Showa-era design and medical history.

Discover the World Unknown Soldiers' Tomb, a striking reinforced concrete memorial atop Mt. Taikan in Ogose, Saitama. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2020, this non-denominational mausoleum honors war dead from over 60 nations and offers panoramic views of the Kanto Plain.

Taiyoken (Modern-tei Taiyoken) is a Western-style restaurant in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, founded in 1922 during the Taisho era. Its two-story wooden building, constructed around 1929, features distinctive colored plaster walls and Expressionist architectural motifs, earning its designation as a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. As a precious example of post-Great Kanto Earthquake commercial architecture, visitors can enjoy traditional Western cuisine in a stunning Taisho-era atmosphere adorned with stained glass windows and parabolic arches.

Takioka Bridge is a steel eight-span plate girder bridge completed in 1928 on the historic Nakasendo highway, spanning the Koyama River between Honjo and Fukaya in Saitama Prefecture. Designated as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property and a Modern Civil Engineering Heritage of Japan, the bridge features elegant granite balustrades and English bond brick abutments. Set in the peaceful countryside near the birthplace of Shibusawa Eiichi, it offers a quiet stroll through Japan's modern engineering history.

Discover the Tokyo Golf Club Clubhouse in Sayama, Saitama — a 1963 architectural gem designed by Antonin Raymond. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features rustic log construction, a lodge-style lounge, and over a century of golfing heritage.

Discover Mase Weir (Mase Dam), eastern Japan's oldest agricultural gravity concrete dam, completed in 1937 in Honjo City, Saitama. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property surrounded by cherry blossoms, autumn foliage, and Lake Mase.

Discover the Mase Dam Management Bridge, a 1938 reinforced concrete bridge registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in Honjo City, Saitama. Explore the oldest agricultural gravity dam in eastern Japan and scenic Lake Mase.

Matsumoto Kyoshitsu Omoya is a wooden two-story machiya townhouse built in 1929 as a ryokan along the historic Chichibu Okan highway in Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture. Featuring traditional shinkabe-zukuri and dashigeta-zukuri construction, it is registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Now repurposed as a private tutoring school, it stands as a testament to the commercial prosperity of Chichibu's Meisen silk textile era.

Discover the Musashino Bank Gyoda Branch, a 1934 reinforced concrete bank building registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Featuring scratch tiles and cast stone decorations, this early Showa architectural gem stands in the heart of Gyoda — Japan Heritage tabi warehouse town in Saitama Prefecture.

The Warabi Kindergarten Circular Building in Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture, is a reinforced concrete kindergarten designed in 1963 by Sakamoto Kanao, a pioneer of circular architecture in Japan. Its innovative circular floor plan, which maximizes natural light on a compact urban site, earned it registration as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2024 — the first building in Warabi City to receive this honor. It remains an active kindergarten serving approximately 140 children.

Discover Suehiro Bridge in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture — Japan's oldest and only operational bascule railway bridge. Completed in 1931, this Important Cultural Property still carries freight trains across the Chitose Canal. A must-visit for railway and industrial heritage enthusiasts.

Haiseiden in Iga, Mie is a 1942 Important Cultural Property marking poet Matsuo Basho's 300th birth anniversary, shaped to evoke the wandering poet in travel attire.