Chuo-ku Tourism Association correspondent blog

Hello. This is a new correspondent, Hanes.
This time, it is an excursion series that allows you to know the history of the ward outside Chuo-ku, following the previous time.
The second stage is Glover Garden in Nagasaki City.
Here are some of the things related to Chuo-ku that I met unexpectedly.

As soon as possible, what is related to the focus this time?...Here!
The answer is shown in the photo, but it is called "autonomous phone".
Unlike modern telephone boxes, it's stylish and Western style.



For a moment, I thought, "Isn't it a scene unique to Nagasaki where the influence of the West remains strong?"
If you look closely,
"We restored the first one in Japan under Kyobashi, Tokyo in 1900."
Isn't it written?



When I was worried and looked for the photos at that time, there was something!
A quaint automatic telephone box located in Kyobashi, where there is no skyscraper yet.


(Includes Communications Museum)

At that time, telephones translated directly from the name "Automatic Telephone" used in the United States.
It was named "autonomous phone", but it is the same as a public phone.
1 When the city call charge (15 yen) at the time of a call was reduced to 5 yen two years later, the number of users increased and spread!

By the way, it began to spread in 1902. Shiseido Parlour is open in Chuo-ku.
At that time, the hairdressing fee was 5 yen, the same as the call fee for one call, while the parlor ice cream soda was 25 yen per cup.
You can reconfirm that it was a very expensive drink.

Now, let's go back and look back on the history of public telephones here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Until September 1900, there were public telephones that were only available in the telephone branch offices and post offices at Ueno and Shimbashi stations.
　　 　 　 　 It will be installed on the premises.
An outdoor public telephone booth at the beginning of October 1990 will be installed at the base of Kyobashi.
(For details after that, please see NTT West Japan "Transfer of Public Phones.")
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fact that Japan's first permanent escalator was installed in the new building of Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi.
I learned from studying the Chuo-ku Tourism Test, but
It was here in Chuo-ku that a public telephone entered the street for the first time.

Although it is a restoration, try to enter the automatic telephone box in commemoration.
If you pull this handle that fits into the box, you will find it



The interior was as large as the modern one.
As it is not transparent from top to bottom like modern ones, visibility is somewhat limited, but
I was able to enjoy the mood of a caller from a newly introduced automatic phone.



I sent you a series of excursions through two articles with Hiroshima City and Nagasaki City.
There must be a lot of charm and related history of Chuo-ku that can be found outside the city.
It's quite fun to look for historical sites related to Chuo-ku on the go.