Abashiri Prison Museum

Japan’s only prison museum, built in the former Abashiri Prison, with the actual cells, the prison chapel and the government building relocated to the site. The large premises are dotted with buildings of high historical value, including eight important cultural properties and six registered tangible cultural properties.

The ‘Shaibo and Central Watchtower’, with its rows of rooms where prisoners lived, is one of the important cultural properties. The five cells radiate out from the central guardhouse so that all corridors can be seen. It is the world’s oldest wooden cell building of this shape, and the only one still existing in Japan. It is also one of the largest, with a total of 226 cells, including solitary and shared cells. Some of the cells are actually open to visitors, allowing them to experience the rooms where prisoners actually spent their time.