All historic sites

Sites in the Japanese home islands are shown by default; switch the Region menu to see Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria.

Reset

217 sites · page 8 of 10

Tainan Broadcasting Bureau (Tainan Hōsōkyoku)

Tainan Broadcasting Bureau (Tainan Hōsōkyoku)

臺南放送局(JFBK)

The Tainan Broadcasting Bureau (臺南放送局, call sign JFBK) was the regional radio broadcasting station for southern Taiwan, established in 1932 by the Taiwan Broadcasting Association within South Gate Park. It broadcast news, cultural programming, wartime propaganda, and relayed the Emperor's surrender announcement on August 15, 1945. Now a designated municipal historic monument, the building serves as the Tainan South Gate Film Center.

TainanRegionalGovernment OfficeTransport, Port & Communications
Tainan Park (North District, Tainan)

Tainan Park (North District, Tainan)

台南公園(台南市北区)

Tainan Park is the oldest and largest urban park in Tainan, established in 1917 during the Japanese colonial period. Designed by landscape architect Sawai Hannosuke, the 14.6-hectare park featured Japanese-style garden elements including the historic Swallow Pond (燕潭), tropical botanical collections, and European-influenced landscaping. During World War II, the Japanese military is said to have set up a temporary field hospital within the park grounds, and air-raid shelters were constructed that survive to this day. After the war it was renamed Zhongshan Park, reverting to its original name in 2001, and was designated a Cultural Landscape in 2018.

TainanRegionalGovernment Office
Taipei 228 Memorial Museum (Taipei Air Raid Exhibition Venue)

Taipei 228 Memorial Museum (Taipei Air Raid Exhibition Venue)

台北二二八紀念館(台北大空襲展示施設)

The Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, housed in a former Japanese-era radio broadcasting station in 228 Peace Memorial Park, has hosted the main public exhibitions commemorating the 1945 Taipei Air Raid. In 2007 the Taipei City Government published the first book dedicated to the air raid to accompany an exhibition here. The 70th anniversary traveling exhibition of 144 US National Archives photographs was also displayed here in 2015.

TaipeiRegionalMemorialAir Raid Site
Taipei Post Office (Beimen Post Office)

Taipei Post Office (Beimen Post Office)

台北郵便局(現・北門郵局)

The Taipei Post Office, completed in 1930 during Japanese colonial rule, served as Taiwan's largest postal and telecommunications hub. Designed by Governor-General's Office architect Kuriyama Shunichi in reinforced concrete with eclectic Western-classical styling, the building housed both postal services and telegraph/telephone operations under the Taiwan Governor-General's Communications Bureau (臺灣總督府逓信部). During the Pacific War it functioned as a critical node in Japan's wartime communications control network across Taiwan, managing censorship of mail, military postal routing, and telegraph traffic. The building survived the devastating Taipei Air Raid of May 31, 1945 largely intact and stands today beside the Qing-era North Gate (承恩門, Beimen) as a designated municipal historic site.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeMemorial
Taipei Sake Factory (Huashan 1914 Creative Park)

Taipei Sake Factory (Huashan 1914 Creative Park)

台北酒工場(専売局台北酒工場)

Established in 1914 as a private sake brewery by Nihon Hōjō Kabushiki Kaisha, the Taipei Sake Factory was taken over by the Taiwan Governor-General's Monopoly Bureau in 1922 and became one of the largest alcohol production facilities in colonial Taiwan. During WWII, the factory produced industrial alcohol for military use alongside sake and wines. After the war, it continued as a state-run winery until 1987. Now preserved as Huashan 1914 Creative Park, it is one of Taipei's most important cultural heritage sites and creative venues.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeMine & Industrial Site
Taipei Water Source Site (Museum of Drinking Water)

Taipei Water Source Site (Museum of Drinking Water)

台北水道水源地

A colonial-era Baroque-style water purification plant completed in 1908 during Japanese rule of Taiwan. Designed based on recommendations by British sanitary engineer William K. Burton and built by Japanese engineer Hamano Yajiro, it modernized Taipei's water supply as critical public health infrastructure. Now preserved as the Museum of Drinking Water, it is one of the finest architectural legacies of the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeTransport, Port & Communications
Taipingshan Forest Station

Taipingshan Forest Station

太平山林場

One of Taiwan's "Three Great Forest Areas" (三大林場) during the Japanese colonial period, Taipingshan Forest Station in Yilan County operated from 1914 to 1982, producing approximately 990,000 cubic meters of timber. The station pioneered aerial cableway logging technology in Taiwan and built an extensive 68-kilometer forest railway network. During wartime, it supplied critical timber resources for military and industrial construction across the Japanese Empire.

YilanRegionalGovernment OfficeMine & Industrial Site
Taito Prefectural Government Office Site

Taito Prefectural Government Office Site

台東庁庁舎跡

Site of the Taito Prefectural Government Office (台東廳舍), the administrative center for southeastern Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (1897–1945). The original 1899 office was built with materials shipped from Kobe, Japan, and located on Malan Ridge Street. After damage from termites, a 1909 earthquake, and a devastating 1919 typhoon, a new reinforced concrete two-story building was completed in July 1922 at a cost of 96,500 yen. After Japan's surrender, the building served as the Taitung County Government headquarters until renovations began in 1975.

TaitungRegionalGovernment Office
Taitung Airfield

Taitung Airfield

台東飛行場

A Japanese military airfield in Taitung, eastern Taiwan, established during WWII. Both Imperial Japanese Army and Navy aviation units are reported to have been stationed here. Reportedly laid out with four parallel runways, it served as a key air defense facility for eastern Taiwan. The site is now Taitung Airport (Fongnian Airport).

TaitungRegionalAir BaseArmy Base
Taiwan Cement Shoushan Quarry Site

Taiwan Cement Shoushan Quarry Site

台湾セメント高雄工場跡・寿山採石場

The Shoushan limestone quarry operated by Asano Cement (from 1913) and later Taiwan Cement Corporation (from 1946) on the slopes of Shoushan (Monkey Mountain) in Kaohsiung. Over nearly 80 years of industrial quarrying, vast quantities of coral reef limestone were extracted to feed Taiwan's first modern large-scale cement plant at the mountain's base. Mining ceased in 1992 when concession rights expired, and the scarred mountain has since been incorporated into Shoushan National Nature Park. The quarry site serves as a stark reminder of wartime and postwar industrial exploitation of Taiwan's natural landscapes.

KaohsiungRegionalGovernment OfficeMine & Industrial Site
Taiwan Education Association Hall (228 National Memorial Museum)

Taiwan Education Association Hall (228 National Memorial Museum)

台湾教育会館

Built in 1931 as the Taiwan Education Association Hall during the Japanese colonial period, this modernist building served as the center for colonial education policy and wartime mobilization. After WWII, it housed the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council and became an important site related to the February 28 Incident (1947). Now designated a historic site, it operates as the National 228 Memorial Museum.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeMemorial
Taiwan Fruit Company (Banana Pier, Kaohsiung)

Taiwan Fruit Company (Banana Pier, Kaohsiung)

臺灣青果株式會社

The Taiwan Fruit Company (臺灣青果株式會社) was a Japanese colonial-era monopoly enterprise that controlled banana exports from Taiwan to Japan. Established in 1924 under the auspices of the Taiwan Governor-General's Office, the company operated from facilities near Kaohsiung Port, where bananas — Taiwan's second-largest export commodity after sugar — were inspected, packed, and shipped to Japanese markets. The Banana Pier warehouse (香蕉棚) at Pier No. 3 of Kaohsiung Port, however, is a post-war structure built in 1963 for the revived banana export trade; it is a registered historic building of Kaohsiung City, not a surviving facility of the colonial company.

KaohsiungRegionalGovernment OfficeTransport, Port & Communications
Taiwan Governor-General Central Research Institute, Hygiene Department

Taiwan Governor-General Central Research Institute, Hygiene Department

台湾総督府中央研究所衛生部

The Hygiene Department of the Taiwan Governor-General's Central Research Institute was the principal public health research facility in colonial Taiwan. Established in 1909 and reorganized in 1921, it conducted critical research on tropical diseases including malaria, plague, and dengue fever, and produced vaccines and serums essential for military and civilian health throughout the Japanese colonial period and during WWII.

TaipeiRegionalResearch InstituteGovernment Office
Taiwan Governor-General Higher Agricultural and Forestry School

Taiwan Governor-General Higher Agricultural and Forestry School

臺灣總督府高等農林學校

The Taiwan Governor-General Higher Agricultural and Forestry School (臺灣總督府高等農林學校) was a leading institution of agricultural higher education in colonial Taiwan, established in 1919 in Taipei under the orders of the Governor-General of Taiwan. Founded as the Advanced Academy of Agronomy and Forestry with Japanese academic Fumio Abe as its first principal, the school trained agricultural specialists who managed colonial resource exploitation across Taiwan. In 1928 it was incorporated into Taihoku Imperial University as an affiliated department, then regained independence in 1943 and relocated to Taichung. During wartime, students were mobilized for food production efforts to support Japan's war campaign. After Japan's surrender in 1945, the school was reorganized as the Taiwan Provincial Taichung Agricultural Junior College, eventually evolving into National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), one of Taiwan's leading research universities.

TaichungRegionalGovernment OfficeResearch Institute
Taiwan Governor-General Keelung Quarantine Station

Taiwan Governor-General Keelung Quarantine Station

台湾総督府基隆検疫所

A port quarantine station established by the Taiwan Governor-General's Office in Keelung in 1899 as part of Japan's systematic public health modernization of colonial Taiwan. The facility was critical for preventing plague, cholera, and other infectious diseases from entering the island through its busiest international port.

KeelungRegionalGovernment Office
Taiwan Governor-General Library Site

Taiwan Governor-General Library Site

臺灣總督府圖書館跡

Site of the Taiwan Governor-General Library (臺灣總督府圖書館), the only official public library in colonial Taiwan, established in 1914 and opened in 1915 on Bo'ai Road, Taipei. Designed by architect Kondō Jūrō, the building originally served as the Governor-General's Lottery Bureau. By 1943, the library housed nearly 200,000 volumes, including invaluable collections on Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific that supported Japan's "southward advance" (南進政策) research. The building was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945, but the final director Yamanaka Shō evacuated approximately 190,000 volumes to four locations across Taipei before the destruction. After the war, the collections were transferred to the Taiwan Provincial Library (now the National Taiwan Library in Zhonghe). The original site is now occupied by the Ministry of National Defense Bo'ai Building.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeResearch Institute
Taiwan Governor-General Monopoly Bureau, Chiayi Branch

Taiwan Governor-General Monopoly Bureau, Chiayi Branch

台湾総督府専売局嘉義支局

The Chiayi Branch of the Taiwan Governor-General's Monopoly Bureau, built in 1936 and designed by architect Umezawa Setsujiro in a modernist style combining Art Deco elements. The three-story reinforced concrete building managed the tobacco, alcohol, camphor, and salt monopolies in the Chiayi area during the Japanese colonial period. Now preserved as the Chiayi Art Museum, it is a designated municipal historic site.

ChiayiRegionalGovernment Office
Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Higher Technical School

Taiwan Governor-General Tainan Higher Technical School

台湾総督府台南高等工業学校

The only higher engineering education institution in colonial Taiwan until 1943, established in 1931 in Tainan by the Taiwan Governor-General. The school trained engineers in mechanical, electrical, and applied chemistry fields to support Taiwan's industrial development. During WWII, students and facilities were mobilized for wartime production. Now the campus of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), one of Taiwan's top research universities.

TainanRegionalGovernment OfficeResearch Institute
Taiwan Governor-General Tea Research Station

Taiwan Governor-General Tea Research Station

臺灣總督府殖產局附屬製茶試驗場

Established in 1903 as the Tea Manufacture Experiment Station under the Production Bureau of the Formosa Governor-General's Office, this was Taiwan's first professional tea research institution. Located in what is now Yangmei District, Taoyuan City, the station played a central role in improving Taiwan's tea cultivation, processing techniques, and pest control during the Japanese colonial period, when tea was one of Taiwan's most important export commodities.

TaoyuanRegionalResearch Institute
Taiwan Governor-General Telephone Exchange Bureau

Taiwan Governor-General Telephone Exchange Bureau

臺灣總督府電話交換局

The central telephone exchange building for colonial Taiwan, completed in 1937 in the modernist style by architect Suzuoki Ryoichi under the Communications Bureau (遞信部) of the Governor-General's Office. Located on Shoin-cho (書院町) in Taipei, it housed the first automatic telephone switching system in Taiwan, replacing the earlier manual exchange. Designated a Taipei Municipal Historic Site in 1998, the building now serves as the Chunghwa Telecom Bo'ai Service Center.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeTransport, Port & Communications
Taiwan Governor-General Weather Observatory

Taiwan Governor-General Weather Observatory

臺灣總督府氣象臺

Established in 1896 as the Taihoku (Taipei) Observatory during Japanese colonial rule and upgraded in 1938, the Taiwan Governor-General Weather Observatory was the central meteorological institution for the island, providing critical typhoon warnings, aviation weather support, and military meteorological intelligence during WWII. The site continues as the headquarters of the Central Weather Administration (formerly Central Weather Bureau) in Taipei.

TaipeiRegionalGovernment OfficeResearch Institute
Taiwan Sugar Research Institute

Taiwan Sugar Research Institute

臺灣糖業試驗所

Founded in 1901 during the Japanese colonial period, the Taiwan Sugar Research Institute in Tainan served as the central research facility for Taiwan's colonial sugar industry. Originally established as a sugarcane testing station, it grew into an independent research institute by 1932, conducting comprehensive research on sugarcane cultivation, disease control, and sugar processing that underpinned Taiwan's most important colonial export commodity.

TainanRegionalResearch Institute
Takao Customs House

Takao Customs House

高雄税関庁舎

The Takao Customs House, built in 1936 in Kaohsiung's Gushan District, served as the headquarters for Japanese colonial customs administration at one of Taiwan's busiest ports. As one of two major customs regions in colonial Taiwan alongside Keelung, it managed all import and export duties at Kaohsiung Port, enforcing trade controls central to Japan's economic exploitation of the island.

KaohsiungRegionalGovernment Office
Takao Port Station (Hamasen Railway Cultural Park)

Takao Port Station (Hamasen Railway Cultural Park)

高雄港驛(ハマセン鉄道文化園区)

Originally Takao Station (打狗驛), Kaohsiung's first railway station built in 1900 during Japanese colonial rule. It served as a critical rail-to-port logistics hub connecting Taiwan's longitudinal railway to Kaohsiung Harbor for military and industrial material transport. Renamed Kaohsiung Port Station (高雄港驛) in 1941 when it became a dedicated freight terminal. Largely destroyed by US air raids late in the war, rebuilt in 1947, and continued operating until 2008. Now preserved as the Hamasen Railway Cultural Park and Takao Railway Museum.

KaohsiungRegionalMemorialTransport, Port & Communications