Posts Tagged ‘cultural heritage’
Fukagawa Tokyo Modankan
Contributed by East Tokyo Survey, 21/11/2009 at 20:55
Fukagawa Tokyo Modankan, a gallery and tourist information center of Koto-ku, opened in October this year.
The building was, apparently, originally a municipal-run public eating house called Fukagawa Shokudo, built as part of the restoration plan for the Great Kanto Earthquake; it served food at cheap prices. Its life as a restaurant ended when air raids damaged the building during World War II. The authorities had considered demolishing it at one time, but it now stands as designated national cultural heritage.
As you can see in the picture, it is a lovely building with distinctive circular windows.
A countertop with an induction cooker in the building reminded me that this used to be a eating house. The interior was orderly in a bureaucratic kind of way. Not particularly exciting. Oh, except for the stairway to the second floor and the stained-glass like decoration at the windows.
On the first floor were comparisons of Edo period and present-day maps, and some nice photos of seasonal events in the neighborhood; on the second floor were exhibits about the history of the eating house and the historical buildings in the area.
The volunteer at the center was kind enough to explain everything in detail for me, so I felt that I had to ask some questions to show that I was genuinely interested.
“Is this small island Tsukuda-jima?” was all I could manage.
“I don’t know,” she replied, “because it’s in another ward.”
Well, not only was she kind, she was very honest too. It seemed like her area of expertise was shrines and temples. I got a very detailed explanation on the likes of Hachiman Shrine and Nanawatari Shrine.
Guided tours are also available and you can enjoy a one-hour excursion in Monzen-Nakacho on Saturdays, Sundays and National holidays.
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