Japan’s first modern lighthouses, whose total number was eight across the country, were built under the Treaty of Edo concluded in 1866.

Following the forced abolition of Japan’s national isolation policy, the Tokugawa shogunate opened five ports to Western powers for the trade with them.  Hakodate, Yokohama, Niigata, Kobe and Nagasaki were agreed with the UK, France, the USA and the Netherlands by the Treaty of Edo concluded in 1866, and the then government set about the construction of eight lighthouses in Western style to ensure the safe navigation in Japanese waters.   To begin with, they constructed Kannonzaki Lighthouse in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1869, followed by Nojimazaki Lighthouse in Chiba Prefecture in 1869, Kashinosaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture in 1870, Mikomotsushima Lighthouse in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1870, Iojima Lighthouse in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1871, Tsurugisaki Lighthouse in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1871, Satamisaki Lighthouse in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1871 and Shionomisaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture in 1873.  As there were no Japanese specialists on lighthouse facility at that time, those ones were constructed by hired Western engineers, Leonce Verny from France and Richard Brunton from the UK.  The first photo shows the second generation of Nojimazaki Lighthouse in Chiba Prefecture.  The original one was destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.  The second photo is a distant view of Shirahama-onsen hot springs from the top floor of the lighthouse.

http://tour-guide-japan.jp/