South Korea's area-based heritage preservation system originates from the "Preservation of Traditional Buildings Act" enacted in 1984. However, this system was abolished in 1996. As there was a need for protection of ancient cities in the 1960s, Japan enacted the Historic City Preservation Act in 1966, and 'Preservation Areas for Historic Landscapes' and 'Special Preservation Districts for Historic Landscapes' were introduced. For the preservation of area-based heritage sites, the 'Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings' system introduced as part of the revision of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act in 1975 was the beginning. Then, in the early-2000s, discussions on the preservation of area-based heritage sites began in earnest, and the 'Important Cultural Landscape' system was introduced for protection of the space and context between heritage sites. Also, '33 Groups of Modernization Industry Heritage Sites' were designated in 2007, covering various material and immaterial resources related to the modernization of Japan, and '100 Beautiful Historic Landscapes of Japan' were selected for protection of local landscapes with historic value in the same year. In 2015, the "Japanese Heritage" system was established for the integrated preservation and management of tangible and intangible heritage aspects located in specific areas; in 2016, the "Japanese Agricultural Heritage" system was established for the succession and fostering of the disappearing agriculture and fishery industries; and in 2017, "the 20th Century Heritage," was established, representing evidence of modern and contemporary Japanese technologies in the 20th century. As a result, presently (in September 2020), 30 'Historic Landscape Preservation Areas', 60 'Historic Landscape Special Districts,' 120 'Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings," 65 'Important Cultural Landscapes,' 66 'Groups of Modernization Industry Heritage Sites,' 264 "100 Beautiful Historic Landscapes of Japan,' 104 'Japanese Heritage Sites,' and 15 'Japanese Agricultural Heritage Sites' have been designated. According to this perception of situations, the research process for this study with its basic purpose of extracting the general characteristics of Japan's area-based heritage preservation system, has sequentially spread since 1976 as follows. First, this study investigates Japan's area-based heritage site preservation system and sets the scope of research through discussions of literature and preceding studies. Second, this study investigates the process of the spread of the area-based heritage site preservation system and analyzes the relationship between the systems according to their development, in order to draw upon their characteristics. Third, to concretize content related to relationships and characteristics, this study involves in-depth analysis of three representative examples and sums them up to identify the characteristics of Japan's area-based heritage system. A noticeable characteristic of Japan's area-based heritage site preservation system drawn from this is that new heritage sites are born each year. Consequently, an overlapping phenomenon takes place between heritage sites, and such phenomena occur alongside revitalization of related industries, traditional industry, and cultural tourism and the improvement of localities as well as the preservation of area-based heritage. These characteristics can be applied as suggestions for the revitalization of the 'modern historical and cultural space' system implemented by South Korea.