Ushiku Chateau

Ushiku Chateau is Japan's first full-scale winery, established in 1903 by businessman Denbei Kamiya in Ushiku City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Modeled after a French brewery, they incorporated techniques from the Bordeaux region and carried out everything from grape cultivation to winemaking and bottling. Currently, there is a memorial hall and restaurant that utilizes the original buildings on a site of approximately 60,000 square meters, and the museum welcomes more than 600,000 visitors a year. In 2007, it was designated as a "Heritage of Industrial Modernization" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and in 2008, it was designated as a national important cultural property. Furthermore, in 2020, it was designated as a "Japan Heritage", and its historical value is widely recognized. In particular, the brick architecture of the fermentation room, office, and storage area is highly regarded in the history of industrial technology as it played an important role in the development of winemaking technology in the mid-Meiji period.