Beitou Museum (Kazan Ryokan)

The Kazan Ryokan (佳山旅館) was established in 1921 during the Taisho era by the Yoshita family from Japan, perched on a hillside in Beitou, a district famous for its natural hot springs on the northern outskirts of Taipei. It quickly became the most prestigious hot-spring hotel in Beitou, catering to upper-class Japanese clientele with luxurious tatami rooms, on-site thermal baths, and fine dining.

During World War II, the Japanese military is said to have requisitioned the hotel as an officers' club. Most notably, according to the tradition attached to the building, the Kazan Ryokan became a reception facility for kamikaze (tokko) pilots. The spacious second-floor tatami hall served as the place where these young aviators would gather for their final meal before departing on one-way suicide missions. The building thus bears silent witness to one of the war's most tragic chapters.

After Japan's surrender in 1945 and the transfer of Taiwan to the Republic of China, the building was used from 1949 to 1965 as a dormitory and guesthouse of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1965 to 1982 it was a private property known as "Old Moon Manor" (古月莊), popular as a film location. Leased in 1983, it opened to the public in October 1984 as the Taiwan Folk Arts Museum (台灣民藝文物之家), which was renamed the Beitou Museum (北投文物館) in 1987.

The Taipei City Government designated the building as a historic monument in 1998. A comprehensive restoration project, for which the museum closed from 2002 to 2007, followed, faithfully restoring the wooden structure using traditional Japanese construction techniques. The museum reopened to the public in 2008 and now houses over 5,000 artifacts of Taiwanese folk art, aboriginal crafts, and historical textiles spanning from the Qing Dynasty through the Japanese colonial period.

The museum is one of the largest remaining all-wood two-story Japanese colonial buildings in Taiwan. Its architecture features a distinctive blend of Japanese residential and commercial inn design, including traditional karesansui (dry landscape) zen gardens added during the restoration. The building stands as a poignant reminder of both Japanese colonial heritage and the human cost of the Pacific War.