Best Cultural Heritage Sites Spot List

Reproduction of the center of the ancient capital, Nara. Daigokuden (Council Hall in the Imperial Palace) and gardens line up in this vast historical site.

This is a mansion built by Masatomo Hotta (1851－1911), the last feudal lord of the Sakura Domain. The residence is designated a National Important Cultural Property and the garden a National Place of Scenic Beauty.

Built in 1919 as a private villa, the former Japanese inn Kiunkaku is one of the Three Great Villas of Atami. Around thirty years later, in 1947, it was turned into a ryokan, meaning a traditional Japanese inn, highly valued and loved by many creative minds such as novelists Osamu Dazai and Junichiro Tanizaki. Nowadays, it is open to the public as one of Atami’s designated tangible cultural assets. The main building in the lush and vast garden is built in a distinctive Japanese style, while mosaics on the walls and stained glass windows are reminiscent of Western aesthetics, creating a wonderful, historical fusion between East and West.