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.
An early Showa Western-style clinic in the Kaseda samurai quarter of Minamisatsuma, Kagoshima, registered in 2009, with a varied roofline and clapboard walls.
An early Showa timber post office in Kawabe, Minamikyushu, Kagoshima, registered in 2007, with a Stick Style exterior and the postal mark worked into its canopy brackets.
Built in 1935 on Kakeroma Island in Setouchi, Kagoshima, this 3.7-square-metre concrete structure in shrine form held imperial portraits and the education rescript.
A white Western-style clinic of 1928 in Fukiage, Hioki, Kagoshima, registered in 2007, with tall sash windows and elegant Western detailing at the entrance and eaves.
Built in 1929 on Tokunoshima, this concrete schoolhouse encloses its hall and stair against typhoons. Registered in 2021, it is the island's oldest concrete school.
A 1941 reinforced concrete magazine at Chiran, Kagoshima: 8.7 square metres, walls 26 cm thick, gunnery rounds inside, and bullet scars still on the exterior.
A 1941 concrete anchor block at the former Army Chiran Airfield in Minamikyushu, Kagoshima, registered in 2007, which held the wire used to teach three-point landings.
Located within the precinct of Kirishima Jingu in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Kirishima Jingu Shamusho is a large-scale traditional Japanese building completed in 1930. With a building area of 548 sqm, this single-story wooden structure topped with copper plate roofing combines formal reception rooms in the north wing and a central-corridor working wing to the south. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2006, it stands as a refined Showa-era counterpart to the National Treasure main halls of the shrine.
A 1935 concrete hoanden on a school site in Setouchi, Kagoshima, registered in 2006, modelled on Shinto shrine architecture and raised on two platforms.
A 1955 concrete school on Tokunoshima, Kagoshima, registered in 2022, built to a plan shared with a US Civil Administration standard design, with open corridors.
A 1935 concrete hoanden on a school site in Setouchi, Kagoshima, registered in 2006, modelled on shrine architecture with round corner columns on a railed platform.
A 1937 bank in central Kagoshima, registered in 1998, designed by Mikami Noboru with Corinthian columns rising through three floors and a curved rooftop tower.
Training Building No. 1 in Akita, registered in 2000, is the northern end of eight 1934 rice warehouses that stored state rice until 1990, now an art school.
Training Building No. 3 in Akita, registered in 2000, is the third of eight 1934 rice warehouses standing eave to eave, handed to the city in 1994 for a college.
Training Building No. 2 in Akita, registered in 2000, is the second of eight 1934 rice warehouses built on reclaimed land by the Omono River, now an art school.
The Creative Studio Building in Akita, registered in 2000, is the seventh of eight 1934 rice warehouses, styled like a storehouse with an insulating double roof.
The Gallery Building in Akita, registered in 2000, is the fifth of eight 1934 rice warehouses, roofed with a hybrid of Japanese framing and Western Howe trusses.
The Craft Experience Building in Akita, registered in 2000, is the fourth of eight 1934 rice warehouses, each 45 metres long, with a rail platform canopy east.
The Community Exchange Building in Akita, registered in 2000, is the sixth of eight 1934 rice warehouses, refitted as a college centre for public classes and talks.
The Araya Library Warehouse Building in Akita, registered in 2000, is the southern end of eight 1934 rice warehouses and now holds library shelves open to all.