The former Nara Prison (1908, Yamashita Keijirō) is the only one of the Meiji government's five great prisons still standing complete; it was designated an Important Cultural Property in 2017. Since 27 April 2026 part of it is the Nara Prison Museum, with a corridor of cells you can look into and the guards' radial vantage point.
Why it's unique
Of the five great prisons the Meiji government built, this is the only one that survives intact.
You can stand at the guards' vantage point and look down the radial wings the way the building was designed to be seen, which is something no other surviving Meiji prison offers.
Before you go
Only one wing is the museum; the others are a Hoshino hotel, so you will not see the whole star. The shop sells work made by inmates across Japan, and the café's brick-shaped curry bread is a nod to prison food.
Booking a timed slot is effectively required: the museum has posted a notice asking everyone to reserve.
