Culture & discovery
Gotō Islands

A rare sandstone church, built from 1910 to 1919 by the architect Tetsukawa Yosuke and designated an Important Cultural Property in 2001. Visits require prior notice; visitors are received 9 am to noon and 1 pm to 5 pm, except on the afternoons of the 2nd and 4th Sundays.

Wooden church with white walls and pale-blue windows, built in 1917–1918 by Tetsukawa Yosuke in a wooded valley. It can be visited with prior notice, 9 am to noon and 1 pm to 3.30 pm, except Mondays and the third Sunday of the month.

Small wooden church, the oldest church building in Gotō, moved here in 1931 and saved from demolition in 1985. It is reached after a walk of about 500 m from the car park, and visits require prior notice.

The first church built in Gotō after the ban on Christianity was lifted, rebuilt in brick in 1908, with a museum on the hidden Christians. Open 9 am to 5 pm (4 pm in winter), no booking needed; admission ¥300 for adults.

A driving route links churches still in use: white-timbered Mizunoura, Imochiura and Japan’s first Lourdes grotto (1899), Kusuhara with the remains of its Meiji-era prison, and Miiraku with its stained glass. They are generally open 9 am to 5 pm.

Completed just before the Meiji Restoration and bordered by the sea on three sides, it is considered the last castle built in Japan. It houses a museum, a library and a high school, and the neighbouring samurai street has kept its stone walls.

White lighthouse at the end of cliffs up to 150 m high, facing the East China Sea. The path to the lighthouse is about 2.4 km return, and a viewpoint gives an overview of the cape.