Shōwa

Naka-bashi in Hitachi-Ōta City, Ibaraki Prefecture, is a reinforced concrete single-arch bridge completed in 1937 over the Sato River. Recognized as one of the earliest Lohse-type arch bridges in the Kantō region and northeastern Japan, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2003. Locally beloved as Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge).

Built in 1930, the Nippon Sei Ko Kai Tsuchiura St. Barnabas Church Chapel is the oldest surviving reinforced concrete structure in southern Ibaraki Prefecture. Designated as a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2025, this early Showa-era Anglican chapel features a distinctive pointed tower, a historic pedal organ, and beautiful stained glass windows. Discover nearly a century of faith and architectural heritage in the heart of Tsuchiura.

Discover the Bakumatsu and Meiji Museum Annex in Oarai, Ibaraki—a 1932 reinforced concrete building registered as a national tangible cultural property, featuring Corinthian columns and neoclassical design. Explore Meiji-era imperial treasures and samurai heritage.

The kokugura at Fuchu Homare in Ishioka, Ibaraki, is a wood-frame concrete rice store recording the fire-resistant methods adopted after the great fire of 1929.

In Makabe, Sakuragawa, this early Showa gate of the Masubuchi Hiroichi family blends three gate types, munamon, yakuimon and udegimon, into one design.

Set back within the Masubuchi Hiroichi family lot in Makabe, Sakuragawa, this early Showa dozo storehouse has plastered walls and double-leaf fire shutters.

A reinforced concrete distribution tower built in 1932 in the historic Sannomaru district of Mito, Ibaraki. Designed by waterworks engineer Goto Tsurumatsu, the 21.6-meter cylindrical structure features Gothic-inspired ornament and fire-hose-motif reliefs. Registered Tangible Cultural Property, one of Japan's 100 Best Modern Waterworks, and JSCE Selected Civil Engineering Heritage.

The Ibara Civic Hall Annex, located in central Ibara City in western Okayama Prefecture, is a two-story reinforced concrete structure completed in 1971 alongside the Main Hall. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2023, it embodies the legacy of postwar Japanese modernism through its exposed concrete finishes and distinctive vertical ventilation tower.

Completed in 1971, the Ibara Civic Hall Main Building is a striking reinforced concrete civic hall designed by Murayama Eikō of the Kansai Architectural Office. With its dramatic clock tower and diverse exposed concrete finishes, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2023, standing as a leading example of postwar modernist architecture in western Okayama.

Discover Emi Photo Studio in Tsuyama, Okayama — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1929. Featuring distinctive early Showa-era architecture with arched windows and a semicircular reception room, this working studio also safeguards over 10,000 historic photographs.

Discover the Oura Shrine Torii Gate in Asakuchi, Okayama — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1927 from Kitagi Island granite, featuring calligraphy by former Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. Explore its connection to Japan's only horse-racing Shinto ritual.

Set on a high stone platform in Yorishima, Asakuchi City, Okayama, Oura Shrine's Main Hall is a magnificent 1927 reconstruction featuring a copper-plated irimoya roof topped with a chidori-hafu and karahafu, lavishly carved with mythological creatures. Founded by the legendary onmyoji Abe no Seimei, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property is also home to the centuries-old Keiba Shinji sacred horse-racing ritual—one of the rare Shinto rites of its kind preserved in Japan.

A 1930 reinforced-concrete book store beside its 1902 brick twin at Okayama Asahi High School, its cornices and windows matched so the pair reads as one.

At the centre of Oku Kōmyōen, a Hansen's disease sanatorium on Nagashima, this 1941 timber hall bears three arched windows and was listed for its striking design.

This 1939 wooden schoolhouse, Kōmyō Gakuen, taught children at the Oku Kōmyōen sanatorium on Nagashima, a rare surviving school built inside such an institution.

This 1949 granite pier at Oku Kōmyōen faces the mainland across a strait, the boat landing that linked the Nagashima sanatorium before the bridge of 1988.

This 1938 concrete cable incline at Oku Kōmyōen lifted supplies from the wharf to the Nagashima sanatorium, back when everything reached the island by boat.

On high ground at Oku Kōmyōen stands a tiny 1943 concrete hōanden that once enshrined the emperor's portrait, a rare survivor at a Hansen's disease sanatorium.

The Okutsuso Main Building, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1927, stands in the Okutsu Onsen district of Kagamino, Okayama. Its legendary Kagi-yu bath features water rising at 42.6°C directly through the bathtub floor — a foot-source spring experience found at fewer than 30 facilities in all of Japan. Discover this historic wooden inn beloved by printmaker Shiko Munakata and former Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai.

The Okutsu No. 1 Covered Conduit is a 122-metre reinforced-concrete channel faced in coursed stone, built in 1932 on the upper Yoshii River and registered in 2006.