I have contributed my posts on my blog to a journal of a meeting that I took care of during my student days.
Let me introduce it to this blog again.
1. Former Nihonbashi Ward and Osaka
（１） Meeting between the former Nihonbashi Ward and me
Since I entered university and came to Tokyo, I have lived in the western region, so I was little familiar with the Nihonbashi area. Even after living in Chuo-ku, Tokyo (although it is a remote area), I rarely went out from the Ginza and Kyobashi side to the area across the Nihonbashi River. However, on New Year's Day a few years ago, I happened to participate in an event called "Nihonbashi Seven Lucky Gods Tour" hosted by Mitsukoshi Department Store, and walked around the city of the former Nihonbashi Ward, and felt strange oldness. The streets reminded me of the area where I spent my childhood.
Junichirou Tanizaki, who was born and raised in Nihonbashi and wrote, "Hometown is a rural samurai and there is no shadow of the old Edo period."
"When I walk along the streets of the city of Kansai, I think of my childhood and feel shy. ・... When I go to Tanicho, Takatsu, and Shimoderacho in Osaka, I think, "Oh, Tokyo was like this in the past," and I feel like I found my hometown that I forgot. " (The first appearance of "Osaka and Osaka people I saw" in 1932)
People who grew up in the center of Osaka feel uncomfortable about the city of Shibuya, Hongo, etc. is that there are many slopes and the streets are not griddle (Semba, Shimanouchi, etc. in the center of Osaka City, etc. The parcel remains as Hideyoshi created, and the parcel is almost a grid.) In Osaka city, there are no slopes in the center of the city except for the slope to the Kamimachi plateau (as it is natural because it was created by alluvial sediment flowing out of the Yodo River). And there is no slope in Chuo-ku, Tokyo (although it is natural that most were created by landfill).
By the way, the elementary school and junior high school I attended (Chuo-ku, Osaka) were located east and west to Daimaru Department Stores facing Midosuji and Shinsaibashisuji. Therefore, for me, "Daimaru" is a representative of department stores, and the opening of the Tokyo store at Yaesu Exit of Tokyo Station (1954) was the "first (first) advance" to Tokyo after the war.
However, Shigure Hasegawa, who was born and raised in Nihonbashi, said, "There is a noun called Daimaru at the starting point of the most popular city. This was just the point of Nihonbashi culture and prosperity at that time, just as pointing to the Mitsukoshi kimono store right now, but at Yotsutsuji Temple on the corner opposite Toyu-cho, across Daimon-dori, It was a famous kimono store made of Odozo that had risen resolutely. " I read the description (the first edition of "Old Mon Nihonbashi, 1935), and learned that the Tokyo store was once a representative of Nihonbashi.
The Sydensteiner said:
"(Road) The influence of trains was even greater. It is a typical example of this, such as Daimaru of a kimono shop. Among the current department stores, it is not uncommon to have developed from a former kimono shop, but Daimaru was one of them, opening in Nihonbashi in the 18th century, and in the middle of the Meiji era it was more prosperous than Mitsukoshi. As Shigure Hasegawa wrote, Daimaru said, "It was the center point of Nihonbashi culture and prosperity at that time, just as it refers to the Mitsukoshi kimono store." However, unlike other stores, Daimaru did not face the train street leading from Ginza to Ueno. Therefore, customers gradually moved away, and at the end of the Meiji era, they had to knock down a store in Tokyo and withdraw to Kansai. I returned to Tokyo after World War II, but this time I set up a store in the station building of Tokyo Station to prevent it from being out of transportation." (Original book, LOW CITY, HIGH CITY, 1983)
（２） Tokyo Nihonbashi and Osaka
Knowing this led me to stroll around Chuo-ku (Nihonbashi, Ginza, Tsukiji, Akashicho, etc.) while considering its history. As a result, I once again learned that the former Kyobashi Ward was once a "water city" where Sanjumabori and Tsukiji River flow (like the center of Osaka City when I grew up). I feel that the atmosphere around the Tsukiji River in Ginza and Tsukiji River in the 1930s depicted in the movie directed by Yoshio Naruse is similar to that of the center of Osaka City at the same time (I think Osaka's economic power at that time was not comparable to Tokyo). For those from the Kansai private railway kingdom, the Inokashira Line at that time seemed to be only a rural train, and for Osaka people who were familiar with the Midosuji Subway Line, the Tokyo Metro at that time, such as the Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line, was quite poor.)
The reclaimed Sanumabori for the purpose of treating the surplus soil after the war, and the border around the former Kibori town disappeared from Ginza Nishi and Ginza Higashi (in the east side of Ginza) The area called "Ginza" has been widely expanded, and the area called "Ginza" has changed considerably to Ginza 1-8 chome, including the east side of the Osaka Nagahorisai River, and the area where the name of Senba Shinshinbashi is located in the area is now disappearsuji and west.
In this way, according to examining the history of the current Chuo-ku, when Chuo-ku was established (1947), the fact that the former Nihonbashi-ku, which boasts history and tradition, resisted the integration with the newly-established Kyobashi-ku until the end (the fact that Nihonbashi was crowned in the head of the former Nihonbashi-ku place name is due to this background). It resonates with the feelings of the Kansai people who are overwhelmed by the concentration of Tokyo, which is the "Xinxing" region in terms of economic power.
The Sydenstecker said:
"Nihonbashi may still be called the financial center of Tokyo and even Japan as a whole. The Bank of Japan and the Stock Exchange are located in Nihonbashi. But most of the big companies went out of Nihonbashi to other land. Mitsui Banking Corporation and Daiichi National Banking Corporation...The main store is no longer in Nihonbashi." ("Tokyo Shitamachi Yamanote").
"There is a record of investigating the prime location of Tokyo in 1929, but the names listed in this survey are Ginza, Shinjuku, Ueno, Asakusa, Shibuya, Ningyocho and Kagurazaka, but now there is no one who lists Ningyocho or Kagurazaka as representative prime places in Tokyo. ・・・・・・・
Ningyo-cho was very lively during the Meiji era, but has continued to decline after the earthquake. Most of the old Nihonbashi Ward was once the center of Edo townspeople's culture that both themselves and others recognized, but they all followed the same fate. Even in Ningyocho, it is a great place to explore the features of the old downtown, but in terms of gathering people, it is not comparable to that of Shinjuku. " (Original book, “Rising Tokyo,” 1990)
Mr. Yata said, "It was in the early 1950s that the transfer of the headquarters functions of large companies began from Nihonbashi. It was in the latter half of the 1950s that the distribution mechanism was shouted, and various wholesalers that had been concentrated in Nihonbashi began to feel behind. ・Since 1998, financial institutions such as regional banks have disappeared from the vicinity of the Bank due to the collapse of the bubble economy and the flow of financial restructuring. ・・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ If the part of "Nihonbashi", such as the description of Mayor Yada, is replaced with "Osaka City (Chuo-ku)", it may be accepted as it is.
It is the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo, but I am pleased that redevelopment plans have been made one after another recently, and the movement to revitalize has been remarkable. We also hear that volunteers from long-established stores in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, are collaborating with Mayfair, one of London's leading commercial areas, to develop sales channels and attract tourists. It seems that the momentum for redevelopment near the financial district Kabuto-cho has also increased. Chuo-ku plans to formulate a new plan to attract financial-related companies, including foreign-affiliated companies. The biggest symbolic project is the undergrounding of expressways that destroy the landscape across Nihonbashi, but I want them to be realized somehow.
On the other hand, it is sad and lonely that the land subsidence of the Osaka economy seems to be accelerating, rather than at all. Even if the World Exposition is realized again, will this be linked to medium- to long-term revitalization?
(Continued)
