To the south east of Makabe Downtown, you will see INOSE residence. The gate of the residence is very gorgeous. It was built at the end of the nineteenth century.

To the west of INOSE residence, "Murai Sake" Brewery is located. "Murai Sake" Brewery started their business at the end of seventeenth century. There are a couple of historical brewery buildings at "Murai Sake" Brewery.

You will be able to visit the Sake brewery with prior application and permission. It was nine month after the Great East Japan earthquake happened in March, 2011. The brewery buildings were partially damaged and under repairment.

To a block west, SHIOTA residence is located.

SHIOTA Residence is a fireproof building made of thick mud walls. In most cases, such architecture is used for a warehouse, but in the case of SHIOTA Residence, it is for a shop and a residence. The architecture is called "Misegura-Zukuri". SHIOTA Residence was built in 1910. SHIOTA family run a draper.

If you walk to the north from SHIOTA Residence, you will walk on the "Go Jinya Mae" street. "Go" means a honorific prefix. "Jinya" means a government office of feudal domain in the Edo Age. Kasama Domain located Makabe local government office in this location.

At the site of "Makabe Jinya", Makabe Local government office of Kasama Domain, "Makabe Denshokan" is located. "Makabe Denshokan" is a historical museum and was opened in 2011.

On the "Go Jinya Mae" street, you will see an old western building.

This is the former Makabe Post Office building. It used to be the Makabe Branch Office of the "Fiftieth Bank".

In the Edo Age, Makabe was a distribution center of cotton products. They purchased cotton products in Osaka, Nara or Okazaki, and sold them to the north-east part of Japan. The Makabe downtown area was damaged by a fire in 1837. Many of buildings were rebuilt after the fire. Currently approximately hundreds of building remain in Makabe. Makabe is designated as an important preservation district of historical buildings.

You will see a couple of "Misegura-Zukuri" buildings in downtown. Blue sheets on the roofs of these buildings covered damaged portions of these buildings. As of 2022, still many of these houses are under repairment.

There are also historical houses even side of the preservation district to the north. The below picture shows ADACHI Residence. The Residence was built in the Edo Age.

Makabe is not well known, even for Japanese. Makabe is very calm and beautiful town. It will be one day trip from Tokyo.

How to get there
From Tokyo, take a train on the Jyoban Line to Tsuchiura. From Tsuchiura, take a bus to Tsukuba-San Guchi. Take another bus bound for Iwase-Chosha. Take off a bus at Kamishuku Bus Stop. Diwntown Makabe is walking distance.

Other Historical Sites near by:
Kairakuen Park
Ruins of Kasama Castle
Kasama Castle Town
Ruins of Makabe Castle
Shimodate Castle Town