🗺️ Aichi Prefectural Office (Nagoya City Hall)

The current Aichi Prefectural Office (Nagoya City Hall) is the third generation of the building, originally constructed for the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Showa, and was completed in 1933. The design concept is a "fusion of Japanese and Western styles," featuring a traditional Japanese-style tiled roof on a modern building, with design ideas selected from the general public through an open recruitment process. At the center of this building stands a bell tower that is 53.5 meters tall. The top of the tower is adorned with a golden shachihoko, styled after the main keep of Nagoya Castle, making the overall design very characteristic of Nagoya. Visitors are free to explore public areas such as the corridors and staircases. The beams and columns in the entrance hall and the railings of the staircase are made from high-quality marble called "Koizumi," sourced from Yamaguchi Prefecture. This marble was also used in the construction of the Tokyo National Diet Building. Additionally, there is a long corridor approximately 100 meters in length on the north side of the building, which is often used as a filming location for Japanese movies and television dramas. The Aichi Prefectural Office skillfully integrates Japanese elements into Western-style architecture and faithfully embodies the architectural features of the early Showa period, earning it high praise and designation as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2014. As it is still an operational office building today, please be sure to observe etiquette while enjoying this historically significant and famous structure.

The main hall cleverly integrates Japanese elements into Western-style architecture, making it one of the representative buildings of the early Showa period. The attention to detail, such as the high-quality marble used for the beams and columns in the entrance hall and the railings of the stairs, is also noteworthy. Inside the main hall, there are other popular attractions, such as a long corridor approximately 100 meters in length, which is often used as a setting for movies and dramas.