The fabrication of air/semiconductor two-dimensional photonic crystal structures by air-hole-retained crystal regrowth using tertiary-butyl arsine-based metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy for GaAs-based photonic crystal lasers is investigated. Photonic crystal air holes with filling factors of 10-13%, depths of similar to 280 nm, and widths of 120-150nm are successfully embedded. The embedded air holes exhibit characteristic shapes due to the anisotropy of crystal growth. Furthermore, a low lasing threshold of similar to 0.5 kA/cm(2) is achieved with the fabricated structures. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics