UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan
Japan has 27 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Most are not one place but several: Ancient Kyoto alone is 17 temples, shrines and a castle across three cities. Here every place we cover is listed under the inscription it belongs to.
Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region
Cultural site, inscribed 2018 · 8 places · UNESCO listing
Photo: Houjyou-Minori / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Oura Church
Japan's Oldest Standing Church and National Treasure
Japan's oldest standing Christian church, designated a National Treasure and part of the UNESCO H...
Egami Church
A White Wooden Church on Stilts in a Seaside Valley of Naru Island, Built with Savings from Kibinago Net Fishing
A small white wooden church with pale blue window frames, built in 1918 by Tetsukawa Yosuke for d...
Hara Castle Ruins
The Headland Where the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion Ended
Grassy ruins on a headland above the Ariake Sea, where some 27,000 to 37,000 rebels under Amakusa...
Kashiragashima Church
A Stone Church Its Congregation Quarried by Hand, on a Goto Island Once Left to the Sick
A sandstone church on Kashiragashima, off Nakadori island in the Goto chain, built from 1910 to 1...
Kasuga Village and Mount Yasumandake
Rice Terraces Where Hidden Christians Never Went Back to the Church, Below the Sacred Mountain They Prayed To
A farming village of terraced rice fields on the west coast of Hirado Island, where Hidden Christ...
Kuroshima
A Ferry Island off Sasebo Where Hidden Christians Farmed an Old Horse Ranch, and a Brick Church from 1902
A small hilly island about 50 minutes by ferry from Ainoura in Sasebo, settled in the 19th centur...
Nozaki Island
Nozaki Island: An Emptied Island, a Brick Church and Two Boats a Day
A long, hilly island east of Ojika in the northern Goto chain. Over 650 people lived in its three...
Sakitsu Village
A Fishing Village Where Hidden Christians Saw Mary in Abalone Shells
A small fishing village on Amakusa Shimoshima whose Gothic church, built in 1934 with a tatami fl...