Shōwa

A small Nagoya gate of knotted logs and earthen walls, with flower-tracery doors. Registered in 2018, it opens collector Furukawa Tamesaburo's former sukiya home.

A tiny cedar-bark privy in a Nagoya tea garden, built never to be used. This decorative sand privy is one of six structures registered as cultural property in 2018.

In a Nagoya garden, the small tea house Chisokuan reworks the National Treasure tea room Joan, adding a trapezoidal alcove and a low host's-seat ceiling.

Nagoya's Tamesaburō Memorial Hall East Gate is a small sukiya gate, registered as a national cultural property in 2018, opening onto a garden villa and tea house.

A tiny cedar-bark waiting arbor in the garden of Nagoya's Tamesaburo Memorial Hall, set along the path to the teahouse Chisoku-an and registered in 2018.

At Chiryū Shrine in Aichi, this 1954 cypress-bark worship hall fronts a rare Owari-style layout in Mikawa, registered in 2014 near the shrine's older pagoda.

Located on the campus of Tokai Junior and Senior High School in Nagoya's Higashi Ward, the Tokai Gakuen Great Hall is a steel-frame reinforced concrete auditorium completed in 1931 to commemorate Emperor Shōwa's enthronement. Its bold façade blends Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired aesthetics with German Expressionist motifs, and it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 1998.

Standing in Dotoku Park in Nagoya's Minami Ward, this 9.7-meter whale fountain was crafted in 1927 by concrete sculptor Goto Kuwagoro. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, it preserves the memory of land once submerged beneath Ise Bay, delighting visitors with its hand-operated water spout mechanism for nearly a century.

This small 1928 concrete bridge once carried Toyohashi's drinking water across the Ōe River, its sphere-topped posts and rounded parapet adding rare polish.

Five concrete slow sand filter basins from 1929 still treat Toyohashi's water at the active Kotakano plant, a rare survival of gentle biological filtration.

This 1929 pump room at the Kotakano plant looks like solid masonry, with crisp geometric ornament around its windows. It still runs, dosing chemicals since 1981.

At the head of Toyohashi's first water system, this 1929 pump room shows rows of arched windows and stone-like, tile-edged walls, quietly Romanesque in feel.

On high ground east of Kotakano, this 1929 earth-covered reservoir fed the city by gravity, its tile-clad gatehouses with pointed-arch doorways adding grace.

Discover the Nagoya Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (Catholic Nunoike Church), a nationally registered tangible cultural property featuring twin 50-meter spires, German and Italian stained glass, and striking exposed-concrete Gothic architecture designed by Yamashita Toshiro in 1962.

Discover the Nagoya Port Bascule Bridge (Nagoya-kō Haneage-bashi), Japan's oldest surviving drawbridge, built in 1927. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property and Modern Industrial Heritage site stands frozen in time with its span raised at 78 degrees in the heart of Nagoya's historic port district.

Discover Nagoya Ceramic Hall, a 1932 Expressionist landmark registered as a Tangible Cultural Property. Explore export ceramics, Art Deco interiors, and Nagoya's ceramic trade history.

Completed in 1932 as the main building of the former Nanzan Junior High School, Reiners Hall was designed by Swiss architect Max Hinder. Featuring distinctive ochre terrazzo walls and unique triangular parapet cutouts, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 1998. Today it houses the Nanzan Archives, preserving the history of one of Japan's leading Catholic educational institutions.

Built in 1934 as the joint sales office of the Japan Ceramics Industry Federation, this reinforced concrete office building in Nagoya's Higashi Ward features lavish ceramic tile and travertine interiors with refined Art Deco detailing. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2015, it stands as a testament to Nagoya's historic role as Japan's largest ceramics export hub.

A 1958 Registered Tangible Cultural Property on Nagoya's Sakura-dori. The Yamashita office gave this modernist block ribbon windows, brown tile, and a curving stair.

Discover the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Okazaki Church in Aichi Prefecture, a 1953 wooden church designed by the Vories Architectural Office. Registered as a national tangible cultural property, this charming building features a distinctive red-tiled roof, white walls, and a cross-topped spire.