All historic sites
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169 sites · page 3 of 8
Army Aeronautical Inspection Department (Tama Army Airfield)
陸軍航空審査部（多摩陸軍飛行場）
The Imperial Japanese Army's central organization for testing, evaluating, and approving all new aircraft and aviation weapons, established in October 1942 at the Tama Army Airfield (present-day Yokota Air Base) in Fussa, western Tokyo. Staffed by Japan's most elite test pilots, the department evaluated every prototype fighter, bomber, and reconnaissance aircraft — including the Ki-61 Hien, Ki-84 Hayate, and captured Allied aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang and B-17. In the final months of the war, its fighter squadron served as an emergency interceptor unit defending the capital against B-29 raids. After Japan's surrender in September 1945, the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division occupied the intact airfield, discovering approximately 280 of the IJA's most advanced aircraft. The site was renamed Yokota Air Base and remains a major U.S. Air Force installation today.
Army Technical Research Institute (Tama Army Technical Research Institute)
陸軍技術研究所（多摩陸軍技術研究所）
Site of the Imperial Japanese Army's vast weapons and electronics research complex (陸軍技術研究所, Rikugun Gijutsu Kenkyūjo) in Koganei and Kodaira, western Tokyo. Spanning approximately 175 hectares of farmland forcibly acquired between 1940 and 1942, the facility housed six numbered research institutes investigating firearms, explosives, communications, radar (denpa heiki), and materials science. In June 1943, the radar-specialized Tama Army Technical Research Institute (多摩陸軍技術研究所) was established here by consolidating electromagnetic-wave weapons divisions, becoming the Imperial Army's primary radar development center. The "Ta" prefix in all Army radar designations — Tachi (ground), Tase (shipborne), Taki (airborne) — derives from "Tama." Over 60 types of radar and electronic warfare devices were developed here before 1945. The site was converted postwar into Tokyo Gakugei University, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and Tokyo Salesio Gakuen; only boundary stones inscribed "陸軍" survive as physical traces.
Asakawa Underground Aircraft Engine Factory
浅川地下壕（中島飛行機地下工場）
Wartime tunnels beneath the hills near Takao housed a dispersed Nakajima aircraft-engine factory. Part of the surviving I district can be visited through advance-booked preservation-group tours.
Bombing of Hachioji
八王子空襲
On the night of August 1–2, 1945, 169 B-29 Superfortress bombers firebombed Hachioji, a critical railway junction west of Tokyo where the Chuo, Yokohama, and Hachiko lines converged. In approximately two hours, 1,600 tons of incendiary bombs destroyed 80% of the city center (2.9 km² of 3.6 km²), killing 445 people, injuring over 2,000, and displacing 70,000 residents. It was the third-largest incendiary bomb tonnage dropped in a single raid on the Japanese mainland.
Cabinet Information Bureau
情報局（内閣情報局）
The Cabinet Information Bureau (情報局, Jōhōkyoku) was the wartime Japanese government's central organ for propaganda, censorship, press control, and information management. Established on December 6, 1940 under Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, it consolidated the information functions of the Army, Navy, Foreign Ministry, and Home Ministry into a single agency of several hundred staff. It directed the control of press, publishing and broadcasting, and published the influential propaganda magazine Shashin Shūhō. Its offices were initially housed in the Imperial Theatre (帝国劇場) in Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, before moving in 1942 to Miyakezaka and then to the Home Ministry building. Abolished on December 31, 1945.
Chiba Air Raid Site
千葉空襲跡
Site of the devastating July 7, 1945 firebombing of Chiba City by 129 B-29 Superfortress bombers. The nighttime incendiary raid lasting from 01:39 to 03:05 dropped approximately 889 tons of bombs, burning out 205 hectares of the urban center and leaving 1,204 people dead or wounded. Combined with the earlier June 10 raid, roughly 70% of central Chiba was reduced to ashes.
Chofu Airfield
調布飛行場
A major Imperial Japanese Army airfield in western Tokyo, home to the elite 244th Flight Regiment (飛行第244戦隊) that defended the capital against B-29 Superfortress raids using Ki-61 Hien (飛燕) fighters. The 244th became famous for ramming attacks (体当たり) against B-29s, and its commander Major Teruhiko Kobayashi was the youngest sentai leader in the IJAAF. Four concrete aircraft revetments (掩体壕) survive in the surrounding parks and neighborhoods.
Domei News Agency Headquarters (Shisei Kaikan)
同盟通信社本社跡（市政会館）
The Domei News Agency (同盟通信社, Dōmei Tsūshinsha) was the sole official news agency of the Empire of Japan from 1936 to 1945. Operating under direct government control from its Tokyo headquarters, Domei monopolized all domestic and international news distribution, serving as a critical instrument of wartime propaganda and information management. With approximately 5,500 employees and bureaus spanning from China to Southeast Asia, the agency controlled the flow of information throughout the Japanese empire. After GHQ ordered a halt to its overseas foreign-language service, Domei dissolved itself on October 31, 1945. Its operations were split between Kyodo News (general reporting) and Jiji Press (economic reporting) on November 1, 1945. From 1942 its headquarters was in the Shisei Kaikan (市政会館) in Hibiya Park, which still stands; the successor Kyodo News moved from there in 1966 to its own Kyodo Tsushin Kaikan (共同通信会館) in Toranomon, Minato-ku.
Former Army Kaikōsha (Kudan Kaikan Terrace)
旧陸軍偕行社（九段会館テラス）
Originally built in 1934 as the Gunjin Kaikan (Military Personnel Hall) in the Imperial Crown Style, this building at Kudan in Chiyoda served as the martial law headquarters during the February 26 Incident (1936), was requisitioned by GHQ as "Army Hall" after the war, and later operated as Kudan Kaikan by the Japan War-Bereaved Families Association. After earthquake damage in 2011, the site was redeveloped as Kudan Kaikan Terrace (2022), preserving the registered tangible cultural property façade while adding a modern 17-story tower.
Former German Embassy Site (now Embassy of Germany)
旧ドイツ大使館跡（現・ドイツ連邦共和国大使館）
The wartime German Embassy in Tokyo was the diplomatic base of Nazi Germany in Japan during the Axis alliance. Originally located in Nagatacho (designed by Josiah Conder, completed 1897), the embassy served as the operational headquarters for Tripartite Pact diplomacy and was also the workplace of legendary Soviet spy Richard Sorge, who operated under cover as a press attaché. The compound — encompassing approximately 18,300 m² with ambassador and minister residences, old and new office buildings, and military attaché offices — was completely destroyed in the devastating B-29 air raid of May 25, 1945. After the war, the Nagatacho site was repurposed for the National Diet Library (1961). As compensation, the Japanese government sold the former Koizumi Sakutaro estate in Minami-Azabu to West Germany for the symbolic price of one yen, where the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany stands today.
Former Hitachi Aircraft Tachikawa Factory Substation
旧日立航空機立川工場変電所
The Former Hitachi Aircraft Tachikawa Factory Transformer Substation in Higashiyamato, Tokyo, is one of the few surviving bomb-damaged industrial buildings in the Tokyo area. Built in 1938 as part of an aircraft engine factory, the reinforced concrete substation bears countless bullet holes and shrapnel scars from three U.S. air raids in 1945. Designated a cultural property by Higashiyamato City in 1995, it stands in Higashiyamato Minami Park as a powerful memorial to the devastation of strategic bombing.
Former IJA Central Special Intelligence Division Site
旧陸軍中央特種情報部跡
Site of the Imperial Japanese Army's Central Special Intelligence Division (中央特種情報部, Chūō Tokushu Jōhōbu), one of Japan's most secretive wartime signals intelligence organizations. Originally established in 1933 as the North Tama Army Communications Station in present-day Higashi-Kurume City, the unit was responsible for radio intercept, code-breaking, and cryptanalysis of Allied and foreign military communications. As the war situation deteriorated, operations were partially relocated to a welfare facility in the Takaido area of Suginami Ward, Tokyo. The division played a critical role in Japan's SIGINT efforts throughout the Pacific War.
Former Japanese Red Cross Society Headquarters
旧日本赤十字社本社
The wartime headquarters of the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS), located in Shiba-Daimon, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Established in 1887 after Japan ratified the Geneva Convention, the JRCS headquarters served as the nerve center for the nation's wartime medical relief operations throughout the Second World War. From this location, the society coordinated the mobilization of over 30,000 nurses for military service, dispatched up to 960 medical relief teams to combat zones across Asia and the Pacific, managed infectious disease control programs in occupied territories, and administered limited prisoner-of-war welfare activities. The original headquarters was a grand red-brick building completed in 1912, designed in Western architectural style and symbolizing Japan's commitment to international humanitarian norms. The building was replaced in 1977 by the current modern structure designed by architect Kurokawa Kishō to mark the society's centennial. Elements of the original 1912 building, including the front staircase and first-floor marble columns, are reported to have been salvaged when it was demolished.
Former Ministry of Communications (Teishin-shō)
旧逓信省（通信院）
The Ministry of Communications (逓信省, Teishin-shō) was a Cabinet-level ministry of the Empire of Japan that administered postal services, telegraph, telephone, and broadcasting. During WWII, it served as the central hub for wartime communications control and postal censorship. Its headquarters stood in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, before being reorganized into the Communications Agency (通信院) in 1943 and the Communications Board (逓信院) in 1945.
Former Ministry of Education Site
旧文部省跡
Site of the former Ministry of Education (文部省) in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo — the wartime nerve center of Japan's education control apparatus. The Ministry directed the 1935 Kokutai Meichō Statement (國體明徴声明), enforced thought control through the Teaching Bureau (教学局), nationalized all textbooks, converted elementary schools into National People's Schools (国民学校) in 1941, and orchestrated the 1943 Gakuto Shutsujin (学徒出陣) student conscription. The original 1933 reinforced-concrete building survived the war and air raids; its Sakurada-dōri facade was preserved as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2007 when the site was redeveloped into the Kasumigaseki Common Gate complex.
Former Nippon Kogaku (Nikon) Oi Plant
日本光学工業大井製作所跡
Site of the former Nippon Kogaku Kogyo (now Nikon Corporation) Oi Plant in Shinagawa, Tokyo — the company's founding factory established in 1918. During WWII, this facility was the nerve center of Japan's military optical industry, producing bombsights, rangefinders, periscopes, and binoculars for the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army. At its wartime peak, Nippon Kogaku operated up to 20 factories with 25,000 employees. The Oi Plant notably produced the massive 15-meter rangefinders installed on the battleships Yamato and Musashi. After the war the company reinvented itself as the camera maker Nikon; in 2024 Nikon moved its headquarters back to the site.
Former Prime Minister's Official Residence (Suzuki Kantarō Era)
鈴木貫太郎首相官邸跡（内閣総理大臣官邸旧庁舎）
The former Prime Minister's Official Residence (旧官邸) in Nagatacho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, served as the nerve center of Japan's wartime government. It was here that Prime Minister Suzuki Kantarō (April–August 1945) navigated the final months of World War II, and convened the critical cabinet meetings on the Potsdam Declaration; the Imperial Conferences at which the decision to surrender was made were held in the Imperial Palace. The original 1929 building also bore the scars of the February 26 Incident (1936), during which Suzuki, then Grand Chamberlain, was shot and nearly killed at his own official residence elsewhere in Tokyo. In the early hours of August 15, 1945, a rebel group acting in concert with the Kyūjō Incident coup attempt attacked the Kantei and tried to set it on fire. The old building was relocated and renovated in 2005 and now serves as the Prime Minister's Official Residence (公邸).
Former Supreme Military Council Site (Miyakezaka)
旧軍事参議院跡（三宅坂）
The Supreme Military Council (軍事参議院, Gunji Sangiin) was the highest military advisory body to the Emperor of Japan, established in 1903 at Miyakezaka, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace. Comprising senior generals and admirals, it advised on national defense policy and military strategy. Its posts became largely honorary over time, though the councillors retained influence in Army personnel matters, until its abolition in November 1945. The site now houses the National Diet Front Garden and the Kensei Kinenkan (Constitutional Memorial Hall).
Former US Embassy Tokyo (Current US Embassy)
旧アメリカ大使館（現アメリカ大使館）
The US Embassy compound in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, has occupied the same site since 1890. The Ambassador's Residence, completed in 1931 by architects H. Van Buren Magonigle and Antonin Raymond, was the venue for pre-war US-Japan negotiations (1941) led by Ambassador Joseph C. Grew. On December 8, 1941 (Japan time), following Pearl Harbor, diplomatic relations were severed and embassy staff were interned on the compound grounds until repatriation via exchange ship in June 1942. During the Allied Occupation (1945–1952), General Douglas MacArthur used the Ambassador's Residence as his personal quarters. On September 27, 1945, Emperor Hirohito made a historic visit to MacArthur at this residence — their famous photograph together, taken by Lt. Gaetano Faillace, became one of the most iconic images of the postwar era. Hirohito and MacArthur met eleven times in all between 1945 and 1951, beginning with this visit.
Former Yokohama Specie Bank Headquarters (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
旧横浜正金銀行本店本館
The former headquarters of the Yokohama Specie Bank (横浜正金銀行), Japan's preeminent wartime foreign-exchange bank, completed in 1904 in German Neo-Baroque style. Designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka and Endo Oto, the three-story stone-and-brick building with its iconic octagonal dome served as the nerve center of Japan's international financial operations, including wartime foreign-exchange controls and management of enemy-nation assets under the 1941 Enemy Property Control Law. After Japan's surrender, the bank was designated a Closed Institution by GHQ/SCAP in 1946 and dissolved, with operations transferred to the newly established Bank of Tokyo. The building survived both the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake (losing its dome to fire) and the devastating 1945 Yokohama air raids. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1969, it now houses the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History.
Fukuryu Special Attack Unit Training Base
伏龍特攻隊訓練基地
Training base at Yokosuka for the Fukuryu (Crouching Dragon) special attack unit — human mine divers equipped with explosive charges on bamboo poles, intended to destroy Allied landing craft during the anticipated invasion of the Japanese home islands. One of the most desperate suicide weapons conceived at the end of WWII, with training conducted at Nobi Beach in Yokosuka under the Yokosuka Anti-Submarine School.
Hitachi Air Raid & Naval Bombardment Memorial (Tōrin Monument)
日立空襲艦砲射撃慰霊碑「陶輪碑」
A memorial monument erected in 1957 at Narisawa Cemetery in Hitachi City to commemorate the victims of the devastating Allied naval bombardment and B-29 air raids on Hitachi in the summer of 1945, which killed over 1,500 civilians and destroyed most of the city.
Hotel New Grand
ホテルニューグランド
A landmark Western-style hotel in Yokohama opened in 1927, designed by architect Watanabe Jin. On August 30, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur spent his first night in occupied Japan in Room 315 after landing at Atsugi Airfield. The room is preserved today as the "MacArthur's Suite" with his original writing desk and chair, making it one of the most tangible relics of the Allied occupation's opening chapter.
Ichinomiya Fu-Go Balloon Bomb Launch Base Site
風船爆弾一宮打上基地跡
Site of the Second Battalion launch base for Operation Fu-Go (ふ号作戦), located on the Pacific coast of Ichinomiya Town, Chiba Prefecture. One of three bases that launched approximately 9,300 hydrogen balloon bombs toward North America between November 1944 and April 1945. The base operated six launch stations with 700 personnel. Today only an informational panel put up by the town of Ichinomiya commemorates the site.