All historic sites
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417 sites · page 8 of 18
Imperial Japanese Army Medical School Site
陸軍軍医学校跡
Site of the Imperial Japanese Army Medical School (陸軍軍医学校, Rikugun Gun'i Gakkō) in Toyama, Shinjuku — the parent institution of Unit 731 and home to the Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory (防疫研究室) directed by Shirō Ishii. Established in 1886 and relocated to Toyama in 1929, it served as the intellectual and organizational nucleus for Japan's biological and chemical warfare programs. In July 1989, construction workers unearthed over 100 human skeletal remains from the site, many bearing marks of surgical experimentation — a discovery widely believed to be linked to Unit 731's human experiments. The school grounds are now occupied by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, beside the former National Center for Global Health and Medicine (国立国際医療研究センター); the two were merged into the Japan Institute for Health Security in 2025.
Imperial Japanese Army Preparatory Officer School Site (Shinbudai)
陸軍予科士官学校跡（振武台）
Site of the Imperial Japanese Army Preparatory Officer School (陸軍予科士官学校), which trained officer cadets aged 16-19 from 1937 to 1945. Relocated from Ichigaya, Tokyo to this former golf course in Asaka in autumn 1941; Emperor Showa personally bestowed the name "Shinbudai" (振武台, "Invigorate Martial Spirit Plateau") on December 9, 1943. Approximately 15,000 students — including international cadets from China, Thailand, Mongolia, the Philippines, and India — trained here before the war's end. The site is now JGSDF Camp Asaka, headquarters of the Eastern Army, and home to the Shinbudai Memorial Museum (振武臺記念館) which preserves school artifacts. The adjacent Asaka Shooting Range hosted shooting events at both the 1964 and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Imperial Japanese Army Toyama School Site
陸軍戸山学校跡
Site of the Imperial Japanese Army Toyama School (陸軍戸山学校, Rikugun Toyama Gakkō), established in 1873 in Shinjuku, Tokyo as the army's premier institution for infantry combat research and training. The school specialized in marksmanship, bayonet techniques, swordsmanship, gymnastics, and military music, and its military band was one of the most celebrated in Japan. During WWII, the adjacent Army Medical School conducted bacteriological warfare research linked to Unit 731. In 1989, the discovery of over 100 human remains at the nearby former Army Medical School site sparked major controversy over Japan's wartime biological experimentation program. The school closed in September 1945; today the area hosts the Japan Institute for Health Security (into which the National Center for Global Health and Medicine was reorganized in April 2025), Toyama Park, and residential developments, with memorial markers preserving the site's history.
Imperial Rule Assistance Association HQ Site
大政翼賛会本部跡
Site of the central headquarters of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (大政翼賛会, Taisei Yokusankai), the totalitarian ruling political organization established by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe on October 12, 1940. Headquartered first in the requisitioned Tokyo Kaikan in Marunouchi (1940–42) and later reportedly in the Kasumigaseki government district, the IRAA served as the instrument of one-party rule that dissolved all existing political parties and mobilized the entire nation for total war. It was formally dissolved on June 13, 1945.
Irifuneyama Memorial Museum (Former Kure Naval District Commander's Residence)
入船山記念館（旧呉鎮守府司令長官官舎）
The Irifuneyama Memorial Museum preserves the former official residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kure Naval District (呉鎮守府), one of the Imperial Japanese Navy's four major naval districts. The main building, a distinctive blend of Western half-timbered and Japanese architectural styles designed by Sakurai Kotaro and reconstructed in 1905 after the 1905 Geiyo Earthquake destroyed the original 1889 structure, was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1998. The Western-style wing features English half-timber exteriors, natural slate fish-scale roofing, imported British stained glass, and walls lined with rare kinkarakami (金唐紙) gold-embossed leather-style wallpaper — one of very few surviving examples in Japan. The museum complex in Irifuneyama Park also includes a relocated cottage where Admiral Togo Heihachiro resided during his tenure as Chief of Staff of the Kure Naval District (1890-1891), a clock tower from the former Kure Naval Arsenal, and a Meiji-era powder magazine. Thirty-two successive naval commanders occupied this residence from 1889 through 1945, after which it housed Allied occupation forces before being transferred to Kure City in 1966.
Ishikawajima Shipyard
石川島造船所
Established in 1853 on Ishikawajima at the mouth of the Sumida River (present-day Tsukuda, Chūō-ku), Tokyo, Ishikawajima Shipyard was Japan's first Western-style shipyard and a major warship builder for the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. It produced destroyers, escort vessels, and other naval craft, and is the predecessor of today's IHI Corporation.
Iwahana Explosives Factory Ruins (Gunma-no-Mori Park)
岩鼻火薬製造所跡（群馬の森）
Site of the Iwahana Explosives Manufacturing Plant (1882–1945), established as the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal's gunpowder factory in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. It was the Imperial Japanese Army's sole black-powder and dynamite production facility — and the birthplace of dynamite manufacturing in Japan (1906). The sprawling 1.07-million-square-meter complex produced black powder, smokeless powder, and up to 180 tons of dynamite per month at peak capacity with nearly 4,000 workers. A catastrophic explosion in December 1938 killed 13 workers and damaged 560 nearby homes. After Japan's surrender in 1945, the grounds were divided among Nippon Kayaku Co., the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and the prefectural Gunma-no-Mori Park (opened 1974). The park preserves blast-protection earthworks, concrete tunnel passages, ammunition magazine ruins, a firing-range embankment, and the "Birthplace of Dynamite in Japan" memorial stone (erected 1973).
Iwakuni Naval Air Base
岩国海軍航空隊
An Imperial Japanese Navy air station established in 1938 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, commissioned on 8 July 1940. During WWII, Iwakuni served as a major naval aviation training and defense base, housing 96 trainers and 150 Zero fighters. A branch of the Etajima Naval Academy operated here from 1943. Bombed by American B-29s in May and August 1945, the base was occupied by U.S. Marines at war's end and continues today as MCAS Iwakuni.
Izumi Naval Air Base Ruins
出水海軍航空基地跡
Former Imperial Japanese Navy air base in Izumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture, which served as a major kamikaze staging base in the final months of WWII. The site preserves well-maintained aircraft revetments (entaigō), an underground command bunker, and a guard tower with visible bullet damage. Over 200 special attack pilots departed from Izumi between March and April 1945.
Japan Steel Works Muroran Plant
日本製鋼所室蘭製作所
Founded in 1907 with British capital from Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth, the Japan Steel Works Muroran Plant was Imperial Japan's premier heavy ordnance factory. It manufactured large-calibre gun barrels, including the 41 cm main guns of the battleship Mutsu; the often-repeated claim that it made the 46 cm guns of Yamato and Musashi is mistaken, as those were built at Kure Naval Arsenal. On July 15, 1945, a US Navy task unit of three Iowa-class battleships bombarded the plant with 860 sixteen-inch shells, killing over 400 people in Muroran.
JMSDF Kure Museum (Iron Whale Museum)
海上自衛隊呉史料館（てつのくじら館）
The JMSDF Kure Museum, nicknamed "Tetsu no Kujira Kan" (Iron Whale Museum), is a free-admission military museum operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. Opened on April 5, 2007, its centerpiece is the decommissioned Yūshio-class diesel-electric submarine Akishio (SS-579), a 76.2-meter, 2,250-ton vessel displayed above ground — the first real submarine to be put on outdoor display in Japan. The museum's three floors cover JMSDF history and its ties to the Kure Naval District, postwar minesweeping operations that cleared thousands of American mines from Japan's waterways, and submarine technology and crew life. Adjacent to the Yamato Museum but a separate facility, it stands on the historic waterfront of Kure, once home to the Imperial Japanese Navy's most important naval arsenal.
Jōban Coalfield
常磐炭鉱
One of Japan's largest coalfields in Honshu, stretching from southern Fukushima to northern Ibaraki Prefecture. During WWII, the mines were consolidated under government orders and became a critical fuel source for wartime industry, with thousands of Korean forced laborers conscripted to work under brutal conditions as part of the national coal production increase campaign (増産運動).
Johnson Air Base Site (JASDF Iruma Air Base)
ジョンソン基地跡（航空自衛隊入間基地）
Originally established in 1938 as Irumagawa Airfield for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Academy, this base served as a training facility during WWII. After Japan's surrender in 1945, the U.S. Fifth Air Force took control and renamed it Johnson Air Base in honor of Lt. Col. Gerald R. Johnson, a USAAF ace killed during a typhoon approach. Fully returned to Japan in 1978, it now operates as JASDF Iruma Air Base and hosts a popular annual air show on Culture Day.
Kakazu Ridge Park (Kakazu Takadai Koen)
嘉数高台公園
Kakazu Ridge Park (嘉数高台公園) in Ginowan City, Okinawa, preserves the site of one of the bloodiest engagements of the Battle of Okinawa. From April 8–24, 1945, the U.S. 96th Infantry Division repeatedly assaulted Japanese fortified positions atop the 280-foot coral ridge — the northern anchor of the Shuri Line — suffering nearly 3,000 casualties before finally dislodging the defenders. Today the hilltop park features war relics including bullet-scarred concrete walls and a sealed underground bunker, along with a globe-shaped observatory offering panoramic views of MCAS Futenma approximately 1 km away.
Kamaishi Naval Bombardment Site
釜石艦砲射撃跡
Site of the first Allied naval bombardment of the Japanese home islands during WWII, where US and British warships shelled the Kamaishi Iron and Steel Works on July 14 and August 9, 1945, killing over 700 civilians.
Kanazawa Castle & Former IJA 9th Division Headquarters Site
金沢城・陸軍第九師団司令部跡
Kanazawa Castle served as the home base of the Imperial Japanese Army 9th Division from 1898 to 1940, when the division relocated permanently to Manchuria. The 9th Division, recruited from the Hokuriku region (Ishikawa, Toyama, and Fukui prefectures), was renowned as one of the IJA's most elite formations. Under Lieutenant General Oshima Hisanao and General Nogi Maresuke's Third Army, the division stormed the fortified heights of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), assaulting forts such as Panlongshan (盤龍山) and Erlongshan (二龍山) — suffering catastrophic casualties with all regimental commanders wounded. In the Second Sino-Japanese War, the division fought at Shanghai (1937), the Nanking Campaign, and the Wuhan Campaign. Transferred from Manchuria to Okinawa in July 1944 as the core of the 32nd Army's defense, the 9th Division was controversially extracted to Taiwan in November 1944 for the Philippines reinforcement chain — a decision later called "the blunder of a lifetime" by Imperial General Headquarters staff, as it fatally weakened Okinawa's defenses. The division ended the war in Taiwan without further combat. The original 1898 Western-style headquarters building on the castle's Ninomaru was relocated in 1968 to nearby Ishibiki and now serves as part of the National Crafts Museum (国立工芸館), designated a registered tangible cultural property.
Kanmon Railway Tunnel
関門トンネル
Japan's first undersea tunnel (1942), a 3,614-meter railway passage beneath the Kanmon Strait connecting Shimonoseki (Honshu) and Moji (Kyushu). A critical wartime infrastructure achievement that maintained rail links between the two main islands. The Kanmon Strait was the primary target of the U.S. B-29 "Operation Starvation" aerial mining campaign in 1945, and the OSS planned a sabotage mission with 250 agents and 23 tons of explosives — cancelled only by Japan's surrender. A parallel pedestrian tunnel (780 m, opened 1958) allows visitors to walk beneath the strait.
Kanpu Ferry Terminal Ruins (Shimonoseki Port)
関釜連絡船跡（下関港）
Site of the Shimonoseki-Busan railway ferry terminal that operated from 1905 to 1945, serving as Imperial Japan's primary maritime link to colonial Korea. Over 30 million passengers traversed this route during 40 years of operation, including military personnel bound for the Asian continent, settlers destined for Manchuria, and tens of thousands of Korean forced laborers transported to Japanese factories and mines. A monument and preserved bollards at Kaikyo Yume Plaza mark the former railway pier where the ferries docked. Designated a quasi-railway memorial (準鉄道記念物).
Kawanishi Aircraft Takarazuka Factory
川西航空機宝塚工場
Major wartime aircraft factory of the Kawanishi Aircraft Company in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, which produced the N1K Shiden/Shiden-Kai fighter and components for the H8K Emily flying boat. Heavily bombed on July 24, 1945, the site was demolished in 1949 and is now the Hanshin Racecourse.
Kawasaki Aircraft Akashi Plant
川崎航空機工業明石工場跡
The Kawasaki Aircraft Akashi Plant was the largest aircraft engine manufacturing facility of the Kawasaki Aircraft Industries Co., Ltd., producing the Ha-40 liquid-cooled engine that powered the Ki-61 Hien ("Tony") fighter. Established in 1940 with nearly 38,000 workers at its peak, the plant manufactured approximately 11,000 engines before being 90% destroyed by a devastating B-29 raid on January 19, 1945 — the first major air raid on Hyogo Prefecture. The site is now occupied by Kawasaki Heavy Industries' modern Akashi Works.
Kawasaki Aircraft Gifu Plant
川崎航空機工業 岐阜工場
Kawasaki Aircraft Industries' Gifu Works, adjacent to Kakamigahara Airfield in Gifu Prefecture, was one of Imperial Japan's most important aircraft manufacturing facilities. Established in 1922 as the Kakamigahara Branch Works of Kawasaki Dockyard, the plant was renamed Gifu Works in 1939. During World War II, the factory mass-produced the Ki-61 Hien (Flying Swallow) — the Imperial Japanese Army's only mass-produced liquid-cooled inline-engine fighter — with approximately 3,000 Ki-61s and 275 Ki-100 conversions built here. Peak production reached 200 aircraft per month. On June 22, 1945, 44 B-29 Superfortresses devastated the factory complex with 2,000-lb and 4,000-lb bombs, killing 169 people including 63 Kawasaki workers and mobilized students. Today the site continues as Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Aerospace Systems Gifu Works, manufacturing military and civilian aircraft.
Kawasaki Great Air Raid Site
川崎大空襲跡
Site of the devastating April 15, 1945 firebombing of Kawasaki, a critical Keihin Industrial Zone city. B-29 bombers dropped napalm incendiary bombs destroying 37% of the urban area (9.3 km²); the US Strategic Bombing Survey recorded 1,520 dead and 8,759 injured in Kawasaki's air raids, while the city's own reconstruction record gives 768 dead. Kawasaki was targeted for its concentration of war-essential heavy and chemical industries including NKK Steel (now JFE), Toshiba, and Nippon Oil facilities.
Kawatana Naval Arsenal Ruins & Katashima Torpedo Testing Range
川棚海軍工廠跡・片島魚雷発射試験場
The Katashima Torpedo Testing Range was established in 1918 on a peninsula jutting into Omura Bay as a branch facility of the Sasebo Naval Arsenal. It served as the Imperial Japanese Navy's dedicated torpedo launch testing and final inspection site for nearly three decades, handling torpedoes manufactured at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Kawatana Naval Arsenal, and Mitsubishi Nagasaki Ordnance Works. Six types of torpedoes were tested here, including the Type 91 aerial torpedo used at Pearl Harbor and the revolutionary Type 93 oxygen-propelled "Long Lance" torpedo. The facility includes a rare artificial island firing platform built approximately 50 meters offshore, an observation post atop the peninsula hill, and machine rooms for torpedo fueling and adjustment. Registered as a national tangible cultural property in 2024, the atmospheric ruins remain freely accessible amid reclaimed forest.
Kofu Air Raid Site (Tanabata Air Raid)
甲府空襲跡（七夕空襲）
Site of the devastating firebombing of Kofu on the night of July 6-7, 1945 — the "Tanabata Air Raid." A force of 131 B-29 Superfortress bombers from the Mariana Islands dropped M-47 napalm bombs and E-46 incendiary cluster bombs over the city, destroying 74% of the urban area, killing over 1,100 civilians, and leaving more than 18,000 buildings in ruins. The attack exploited the geography of the Kofu Basin, where surrounding mountains trapped heat and intensified the firestorm.