Shōwa

Gengi Sanbo in Ogikubo, Suginami, Tokyo, is the former residence of Kadokawa Genyoshi, founder of KADOKAWA and renowned haiku poet. Designed by architect Kakurai Akio, this modern sukiya-style building is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Now open free as the Suginami Poetry Hall, visitors can explore the exhibition room, tea room, and a beautiful seasonal Japanese garden.

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.

Tucked into a quiet residential lane in Ōta Ward, Tokyo, the Showa Lifestyle Museum occupies the former Koizumi Family Residence — a tiny two-story wooden home built in 1951 within the 18-tsubo limit of Japan's postwar public housing loan scheme. Designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2002, the house is preserved exactly as it was lived in, from the ice refrigerator in the kitchen to the sunken kotatsu in the family room. It is a rare and intimate window into the everyday life of an ordinary postwar Japanese family, set just eight minutes from Kuga-hara Station and easily combined with a visit to Ikegami Honmon-ji or a walk along the Tamagawa riverside.

Discover Shinkaiya, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Bunkyo, Tokyo. This wooden two-story soba restaurant, built in 1926, has served handmade noodles for over a century — surviving earthquakes, war, and time itself.

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 Shinchosha Warehouse in Yaraicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, is a five-story reinforced concrete book warehouse completed in 1959. Engineered to hold five million volumes, it served as the logistical heart of postwar publishing for Shinchosha, one of Japan's leading publishing houses. Its matching glazed tiles, shared eave line with the adjacent main building, and deep continuous streetscape along Ushigome-Chuo-dori make it a quiet masterpiece of Showa-era commercial modernism. Registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 6, 2025, it stands just steps from Kagurazaka Station, perfectly paired with a stroll through the Kagurazaka and Yaraicho districts.

Discover the Shinchosha Main Building in Kagurazaka, Tokyo — a 1957 reinforced concrete office registered as a Tangible Cultural Property. Explore its glazed tile façade, lobby relief celebrating world scripts, and the storied history of one of Japan's most prestigious publishers.

Discover Seikō Lodging, a rare 1930s Western-style boarding house in Tokyo's Ogikubo neighborhood. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features a distinctive copper dome roof and continues to operate as Ryokan Seikō, offering overnight stays in a living piece of Japanese history.

Discover Solfège School, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Mejiro, Tokyo, designed by renowned modernist architect Junzo Yoshimura in 1967 for his violinist wife. Explore its architectural beauty, musical heritage, and unique solfège education method.

Discover Tiger Building in Kuramae, Tokyo — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1934. This reinforced concrete apartment building survived the Tokyo air raids and stands as the oldest building in Taito Ward.

The Taiyo Building (Maruishi Building) in Kanda Kaji-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property completed in 1931. Designed by Yamashita Toshiro—the architect behind Japan's first skyscraper, the Kasumigaseki Building—this rare Romanesque Revival office building features exquisite stone carvings, ornamental reliefs, and guardian lion statues.

Tsubame-yu, a working wooden bathhouse built in 1950 in Ueno, Taito Ward, Tokyo, became in 2008 the first public bathhouse in the city to be registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Famous for its early-morning soak from 6 a.m., its scalding water, and a striking rock formation made from real Mount Fuji lava, it offers an authentic encounter with postwar sento culture in the heart of Okachimachi.