All historic sites
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217 sites · page 6 of 10
Former Tainan Butokuden (Martial Arts Hall)
台南武徳殿
The Former Tainan Butokuden (原臺南武德殿), completed in 1936, is one of the largest surviving martial arts training halls (武德殿) built by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai in colonial Taiwan. Located adjacent to the Confucius Temple in Tainan's West Central District, this reinforced concrete structure blends traditional Japanese shrine architecture with modern construction techniques. Designed by the Tainan Prefectural Government's Civil Engineering Division, it served as the regional center for kendo and judo training, promoting bushido spirit and militaristic education among Japanese colonists and Taiwanese subjects. The building is reported to have been damaged during American air raids in the closing stages of World War II but survived. Designated a Tainan municipal historic site in 1998, it now serves as the auditorium for Zhongyi Elementary School and stands as one of the finest examples of Butokuden architecture in Taiwan.
Former Tainan Prison Site
台南刑務所跡
Tainan Prison (台南刑務所) was a major colonial-era correctional facility built in 1904 during the Japanese rule of Taiwan, designed by architect Yamashita Keijiro. Located between the old Xiaonanmen and Xiaoximen gates of Tainan city, it was the second-largest prison in colonial Taiwan after Taihoku Prison, featuring a radial floor plan with five male cell wings and separate women's quarters. The prison was used to incarcerate political prisoners — including those arrested during the 1915 Tapani Incident — as well as common criminals. Inmates were subjected to forced labor in workshops surrounding the cell blocks. In the mid-1980s prison operations relocated to a new facility in Guiren District, and the main compound was demolished from September 1986. Several auxiliary structures survive as designated cultural heritage sites, including the former martial arts hall (要道館), official residences, the prison director's quarters, and dormitory remains, some now repurposed as the Blueprint Cultural and Creative Park (藍曬圖文創園區) near the Tainan Art Museum.
Former Tainan Shrine (now Tainan Art Museum Building 2)
台南神社跡（現・台南市美術館2館）
Tainan Shrine (台南神社, Tainan Jinja) was a major Shinto shrine built in 1920–1923 in Tainan, Taiwan, enshrining Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa who died during the 1895 Japanese invasion. Elevated to Kanpei Chūsha (官幣中社, mid-rank state shrine) in 1925, it was one of the most important colonial shrines in southern Taiwan. After Japan's defeat the shrine was converted into the Tainan Martyrs' Shrine (台南忠烈祠) in 1946; in 1969 the Martyrs' Shrine was relocated to its present South District location on Jiankang Road and the former shrine buildings were demolished.
Former Tainan Waterworks
旧台南水道
The Former Tainan Waterworks is a colonial-era water supply facility in Shanshang District, Tainan, built between 1912 and 1922 under the direction of Japanese engineer Hamano Yashirō. Designated a National Historic Monument, it is one of Taiwan's best-preserved examples of Japanese colonial civil infrastructure and now operates as the Tainan Shan-Shang Garden and Old Waterworks Museum.
Former Tainan Weather Observatory
旧台南測候所
Built in 1898 during Japanese colonial rule, the Former Tainan Weather Observatory is the oldest surviving meteorological station in Taiwan. Its unique eighteen-sided (octadecagonal) building with a central cylindrical observation tower — nicknamed the "Pepper Tube" — is the only surviving example of this early weather-station design in Taiwan. Designated a national historic monument in 2003, it now serves as the Museum of Meteorology.
Fort San Domingo (Tamsui Red Fort)
淡水紅毛城（聖多明哥城）
Fort San Domingo (紅毛城) is a historic fortress overlooking the Tamsui River estuary in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Originally built by the Spanish in 1628 as Fort Santo Domingo and rebuilt in stone by the Dutch in 1644, it became a British consulate in 1867. When Japan declared war on Britain in December 1941, the consulate was sealed and the British consul expelled to Japan, with the fort remaining under Japanese control until the end of WWII in 1945. Now designated a National Historic Monument, it is one of Taiwan's most important colonial-era landmarks.
Green Island White Terror Memorial Park
白色テロ緑島記念園区（火焼島）
The Green Island White Terror Memorial Park is a 32-hectare memorial complex on Green Island (Ludao), Taitung County, Taiwan, preserving the former political prison facilities where thousands of dissidents were detained during the White Terror era (1949–1987). Originally a vagrants' shelter under Japanese colonial rule when the island was known as Kashoto (火燒島), the site housed the New Life Correction Center from 1951 and, after 1970, the notorious Oasis Villa prison. Named a human rights memorial park in 2001, formally opened in December 2002 and transferred to the National Human Rights Museum in 2018, the park now serves as Taiwan's most significant site of conscience for political persecution.
Gushan Cave (Shoushan Air-Raid Shelter Tunnel)
鼓山洞（寿山防空トンネル）
A 200-meter air-raid shelter tunnel excavated by the Japanese colonial Railway Bureau during WWII in 1939, built into the limestone of Shoushan mountain to protect railway workers and passengers from the devastating US air raids on Kaohsiung. Now a designated military heritage site open to the public, featuring stalactite formations that have grown over the decades since the war.
Hayashi Department Store
林百貨店（ハヤシ百貨店）
A landmark colonial-era department store in Tainan, Taiwan, opened in 1932 during Japanese rule. The rooftop preserves a Shinto shrine (Suehiro Shrine) and visible bullet and bomb damage from WWII American air raids. Restored and reopened in 2014 as a cultural retail space, it is one of Taiwan's most significant heritage tourism sites.
Hehuan Cross-Ridge Road (Wushe to Taroko)
合歓越嶺道（霧社—太魯閣）
A military road built across the Central Mountain Range by the Japanese colonial government during the 1914 Taroko War. Stretching from Wushe in Nantou to Taroko in Hualien, the road served as the primary route for the "aboriginal pacification" (理蕃) campaign to subjugate the Truku people, and later became the basis for the modern Central Cross-Island Highway.
Hengchun Old City Wall
恒春県城
A Qing dynasty walled city built 1875–1879 in Hengchun, the southernmost ancient fortified town in Taiwan. During the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), the city walls were partially preserved and designated a historic monument in 1935. Nearby military airfields made the area strategically important during WWII, and bullet holes from American machine-gun strafing still scar the south gate wall section. All four original gates survive, making it the best-preserved Qing-era city wall in Taiwan.
Hsinchu Prefecture Library
新竹州立圖書館
A Neo-Renaissance public library built in 1925 in Hsinchu, Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period. Constructed to commemorate Crown Prince Hirohito's 1923 visit to Taiwan, it is one of only three purpose-built public library buildings from the colonial era and retains the most complete original architecture among them. Now a designated municipal heritage site, the building currently houses a Starbucks cafe.
Huwei Airfield
虎尾飛行場
A major Imperial Japanese Navy airfield in Huwei, Yunlin County, Taiwan, established in 1943-1944 for pilot training. After the training unit was disbanded in February 1945 the field was turned over to operational units and its abandoned trainers were passed to the Taiwan-based special attack unit Chūsei-tai; the nearby Huwei Sugar Factory produced anhydrous alcohol for fuel.
Huwei Sugar Factory Dormitories
虎尾糖廠宿舎群
Japanese colonial-era sugar factory dormitory complex in Huwei, Yunlin County, Taiwan, whose buildings are said to have been used in the final months of World War II to lodge special attack (kamikaze) pilots from the nearby Huwei Naval Airfield, although the sources consulted do not document this. The Huwei Naval Air Group (虎尾海軍航空隊), established in May 1944 to train roughly 260 flight cadets, was dissolved in February 1945 due to fuel and materiel shortages; its aircraft were then transferred to the Chūsei-tai (忠誠隊) special attack squadron for suicide missions against American ships near Okinawa. The sugar factory's First Official Dormitory (第一公差宿舍, also called Taishunkan / 臺春館), built in 1916, and its surrounding Japanese-style residential quarter are the buildings associated with this account. The dormitory complex (reported as 11 to 12 surviving buildings) was designated a county-level historic monument in 2015.
Japan Aluminum Co. Kaohsiung Plant (Nippon Aluminium Takao Works)
日本アルミニウム株式会社高雄工場
Colonial Taiwan's first and principal aluminum smelter, established in 1935 as the Takao Works of Nippon Aluminium Co., Ltd. (日本アルミニウム株式会社) by a consortium including Furukawa Electric, Tokai Electrode, and Taisei Chemical. The plant began producing aluminum ingots in 1936 (November, according to Japanese sources), powered by cheap hydroelectricity from the Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) power system. It refined bauxite imported from Southeast Asia into aircraft-grade aluminum essential for Japan's wartime aviation industry. Heavily damaged by USAAF bombing in 1944–1945, the factory was taken over by the ROC government postwar and reorganized as Taiwan Aluminum Corporation (台灣鋁業公司). The original factory site in Qianzhen District has been redeveloped as MLD台鋁生活商場, preserving the iconic Y-shaped steel beam structure from the 1970s-era expansion.
Ji'an Keishuin (Yoshino Shingon Temple)
吉野布教所（慶修院）
Ji'an Keishuin is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Ji'an Township, Hualien County, Taiwan, originally built in 1917 as the Yoshino Propagation Center (真言宗吉野布教所) to serve Japanese immigrants in the Yoshino settlement. It is one of the best-preserved Japanese-era Buddhist temples in Taiwan and has been a county-designated historic monument since 1997.
Jiadong Shrine Ruins
佳冬神社跡
Jiadong Shrine (佳冬神社, Katō Jinja) was a Shinto shrine built in 1936 in Jiadong Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan, under Japan's "one village, one shrine" policy. Serving both the local community and soldiers stationed at the adjacent Jiadong Army Airfield, it was one of southern Taiwan's most complete shrine complexes, stretching 140 meters from its first torii gate to the main hall. After Japan's defeat in 1945 the shrine was abolished (its demolition is dated to 1946 in some accounts) and its buildings gradually disappeared, but significant remnants — including the first torii, one pillar of the second, a sacred bridge, and stone lantern bases — survive today. Designated a Pingtung County Historical Building in 2012, it is one of Taiwan's few well-preserved Japanese shrine ruins.
Jiaobanshan Resort (Kakaban-san Lodge)
角板山賓館
Jiaobanshan Resort is a historic mountain retreat in Fuxing District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. The original Kakaban-san Guest House was completed in 1914 of hinoki cypress and was later prepared for Crown Prince Hirohito's 1923 Taiwan tour (台灣行啟), although he did not use it. Located in the traditional territory of the Atayal indigenous people, the hilltop site later became President Chiang Kai-shek's favourite retreat, who reportedly found the scenery reminiscent of his hometown Xikou in Zhejiang. The current villa dates to 1960 and was opened to the public in 1995.
Jingtong Station & Shidi Coal Mine
菁桐駅・石底炭鉱
Terminal station of the Pingxi Line, a narrow-gauge coal mining railway in northeast Taiwan built during the Japanese colonial period. Jingtong Station was constructed in 1929 to serve the Shidi Coal Mine (石底炭鉱), one of Taiwan's most productive coal mining operations. The original wooden station building, one of the few surviving Japanese-era railway stations in Taiwan, was designated a monument (古蹟) in 2003. Coal extracted from these mines was a critical wartime energy resource for the Japanese Empire.
Jiufen Gold Mine (Jiufen Old Street)
九份金鉱跡（九份老街）
Major gold mining town in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, that prospered during the Japanese colonial period. Mining rights were granted to Fujita-gumi (藤田組) in 1896, later passing to the Yan family's Taiyo Mining Company (台陽鉱業). Gold production peaked in the 1930s-40s, supporting Japan's wartime economy. The town's distinctive staircase streets, teahouses, and Shengping Theater survive from the mining era. The mines closed in 1971.
Kagi Station (Chiayi Railway Station)
嘉義驛（かぎえき）
A major railway station in Kagi (Chiayi), Taiwan, originally opened in 1902 and rebuilt in 1933 as one of Taiwan's early reinforced-concrete stations. Serving as the gateway to the Alishan Forest Railway and the junction of three railway systems (TRA mainline, sugar railway, and forest railway), it was a critical military transport node during WWII. Allied bombing on April 3 and May 1, 1945 severely damaged the rail yard and surrounding district. The station also witnessed the public execution of four Chiayi city councilors during the February 28 Incident (1947). The 1933 building survives today as a designated cultural heritage site.
Kaohsiung Butokuden (Martial Arts Hall)
高雄武徳殿
The Kaohsiung Butokuden, completed in 1924, is the highest-ranking and earliest-built martial arts training hall (武德殿) among all surviving butokuden in Taiwan. Originally named Shinbukan (振武館), it served as the headquarters of the Takao Prefecture branch of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, where police officers, civil servants, and students practiced kendo, judo, and other martial arts as part of Japan's bushido spirit education and wartime militarism programs.
Kashino Immigrant Village Ruins (Longtian Village)
鹿野移民村跡（龍田村）
Remnants of a Japanese government-sponsored immigrant village established in 1915 in Luye Township, Taitung County, Taiwan. Originally known as Kashino Village (鹿野村), it was one of the most significant colonial-era planned settlements on Taiwan's east coast, retaining well-preserved Japanese-style buildings, street grids, and the former Shikano Village Office.
Keelung Harbor Integrated Administration Building
基隆港合同庁舎（海港大楼）
The Keelung Harbor Integrated Administration Building (基隆港合同廳舍), now known as the Harbor Building (海港大樓), is a reinforced concrete government office building completed in 1934 at Keelung Port. Designed by Taiwan Governor-General's Transportation Bureau engineer Ryoichi Suzuoki (鈴置良一), it consolidated eleven port-related agencies — including customs, harbor police, postal services, and commodity inspection bureaus — under one roof to streamline colonial port operations. The four-story structure with a 31.2-meter tower features earthquake-resistant cross-beam design and Streamline Moderne styling with ship-inspired decorative elements. Designated a Keelung City Historic Building in 2003, it continues to house port administration offices today.