Taishō

Built in 1922 as the headquarters of Aikoku Savings Bank, Dobuike Textile Hall is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property on Dobuike-suji in Osaka's Semba district. After serving as a textile wholesale hub in the postwar era, the building underwent an innovative 2016 renovation that revealed its hidden Taisho-era facade. Discover the charm of this century-old modern architecture with its tile-clad walls and elegant curved corners.

One of Japan's oldest Protestant churches, founded in 1874. The Romanesque-style red brick church designed by architect W.M. Vories in 1922 features a striking rose window and timber-trussed chapel. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property and Osaka Prefectural Cultural Property. A 5-minute walk from Higobashi Station.

A Taisho-era working shed on the Fujii estate in Higashiosaka, roofed with round poles over a packed earth floor: the plain end of a carefully graded residence.

The Miki Gakki headquarters building, known as the Osaka Kaiseikan, is a reinforced concrete structure completed in 1924 to mark the centennial of Japan's oldest music store, founded in 1825. Modeled after a German instrument maker's headquarters, this Taisho-era commercial building features stained glass by Kiuchi Shintaro, marble staircases, and terracotta ornamentation. Having survived the World War II air raids, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 1997.

The Mizuma Railway Mizuma Station building in Kaizuka City, Osaka, is a reinforced concrete terminal station completed in 1926 during the Taishō period. Featuring a distinctive blend of a Buddhist stupa-inspired central tower and Western-style cylindrical projections, this unique structure was registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1999. Discover its architectural charm and the history of the Mizuma Railway, originally built as a pilgrimage line to the ancient Mizumadera temple.

The stone retaining wall of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, a 19-meter dry-laid wall of rounded fieldstones that curves along a steep road and rises to about five meters.

The kitchen wing of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, its smallest registered building at about 12 square meters, with a well and sink on a fully stone-paved floor.

The north and east walls of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, a roofed boundary wall of about 25 meters from 1912, with black plaster, red posts and accent ridge tiles.

The thatched main house of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, built in 1912, its working doma fronting formal rooms of fine craftsmanship, listed as hard to reproduce.

Storehouse 1 of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, a tall 1912 dozo at the northwest corner, white plaster above charred cedar boarding giving it a striking street presence.

Storehouse 2 of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, a small 1912 dozo joined to the larger corner store, its cornice molding marking careful work despite a modest size.

The west wall of the Mezan Atsushi Residence, an 11-meter roofed wall of 1912 set on the stone base, its height shifting with the slope to keep the top line level.

Minutes from Osaka's Umeda towers, a 42-metre Taisho-era timber wall and gate, listed in 2008, frames one of the city's last surviving nagaya row-house lanes.

The Risai family annex in Kaizuka's old temple town, built around 1924, holds a Western room with original fireplace tiles, stained glass, and period lighting.

Built in 1917 by Takeda Goichi, the Phoenix Pavilion of Ryuan-ji stands above the Minoo River in Osaka, echoing the Byodo-in Phoenix Hall on the path to the falls.

Built in 1918 by master builder Tetsukawa Yosuke, this hilltop brick church above Hirado Strait pairs a dark exterior with a pale, camellia-carved interior.

Discover the Sasebo Civic Culture Hall, originally built in 1923 as the Imperial Japanese Navy Sasebo Naval District Victory Memorial Hall. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property and Japan Heritage site in Nagasaki Prefecture features neoclassical brick architecture commemorating Japan's WWI Mediterranean naval operations. Free admission for visitors.

Built in 1918 at the historic eastern gateway to Nagasaki where the Narutaki River once marked the final approach along the Nagasaki Kaidō highway, Nakagawa Bridge is a single-arch stone structure registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2009. Although reinforced concrete was already common at the time of its construction, stone was chosen deliberately to honour the centuries-old tradition of Nagasaki's stone arch bridges. With its striking contrast of white granite and dark andesite, it stands as the final masterpiece in a lineage that began with the famous Meganebashi of 1634, while just upstream the older Furubashi of 1654 still survives as a city-designated cultural property.

The Former Nagasaki City Mayor's Residence is a two-story timber Western-style house designed by architect Suehiro Heisaku and completed in 1922. With its mansard roof, terracotta-clad walls, and Vienna Secession motifs in the entrance hall, it embodies Taishō-era modernism and was registered as a national tangible cultural property in 2009. Located a short walk from Suwa Shrine and the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, it is an essential stop on any tour of Nagasaki's modern architecture.

Completed in 1926 beneath the historic Himi Pass in Nagasaki, this 642-meter road tunnel was the largest in Japan at the time of its construction. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property for its distinguished Taisho-era portal design and significance in road engineering history, the Himi Tunnel invites visitors to explore the layers of transportation heritage along the legendary Nagasaki Kaido highway.