Official
Get back the blue sky from Nihonbashi. Joint project between the government and the capital
The underground highway plan has started!
Nihonbashi was built about 400 years ago with the opening of Edo. Since it was designated as the starting point of the Gokaido, it has been the center of Japan and has symbolized prosperity. The current bridge is the third generation of Ishibashi. A beautiful arched granite bridge completed in 1911, with a stunning bronze statue of a large giraffe and a lion with wings. At the foot of the bridge, there are plenty of highlights such as a sightseeing boat pier, a fish shore monument, a relief at the high billboard, a bridge nameplate written by Yoshinobu Tokugawa, the original sign of the Japan Road and the description of Nihonbashi origin. There are many visitors.
Japan, which had been decided to host the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, is in the midst of a high growth period. The traffic conditions at that time were extremely bad, and it took more than two hours from Haneda Airport to the main venue, Yoyogi. In particular, traffic congestion near Nihonbashi is severe, and the average speed is 15 to 20 km / h. We are not in a state where we can welcome guests from abroad. A new highway is needed. But the construction period is only 5 years. Buying land wouldn't be enough for the Olympics. Therefore, what was considered was an "airway road" that passes more than 85% of the total on rivers and roads. In this way, a smart highway runs over Nihonbashi, the center of Japan. He tried to pass the highway in front of the Imperial Palace, but as expected, this was rejected. So, there was everything.
Fifty-seven years later, strangely, the Chieko Project, a plan to restore the blue sky to Nihonbashi in the next year of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, began to move (there is no sky in Tokyo). He says he wants to see the real sky. It is said that the blue sky that comes out every day in the mountains is the real sky. “Chieko Sho,” Kotaro Takamura)
About 1.1 km above the Nihonbashi River from Edobashi to Kanda Bridge entrance.
Underground expressways.
On January 26, 2021, the Metropolitan Expressway Co., Ltd. announced that it would abolish the entrances of Edobashi and Tokiwa Bridge. Date of abolition is May 10. With the abolition of the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway Nihonbashi area underground project, the underground tunnel will be opened by 2035, the current elevated bridge will be removed by 2040, and the blue sky will be restored to Nihonbashi.
What is the landscape after the highway was removed?
The center is a photo of around 1955 before it was covered by expressways (right Ginza direction, left Muromachi direction). You can see the Nomura Securities Building on the right side. The photos on the right and left were taken from the top of Nihonbashi in January 2021. The same Nomura Securities Building on the right, and the area on the left, which was crowded with fish banks.
In the photo in the center, there was the Imperial Seima Building on the left hand side of Nihonbashi, and the first post office built by Takashi Maejima, diagonally back to the right hand. If you go a little along the river (in the direction of the Sumida River), you will see the Nihonbashi Diamond Building, which retains the remnants of the Taisho era and Showa era on your right, followed by the Nishokan with a three-layer structure and arch windows that convey the atmosphere of the old Kabuto-cho. . This Nisshokan is located in the place where Eiichi Shibusawa's residence was located.
I once aimed for "Venice of the East" that makes use of the Nihonbashi River.
In the Meiji era, Nihonbashi was positioned at the core of a water transport city facing the huge Tokyo Port. Eiichi Shibusawa and Mitsui Zaibatsu played the lead roles, and Mitsukoshi and Mitsui Main Building, which are still built in Nihonbashi, are symbols. Many Western-style buildings are built along the Nihonbashi River, based on Venice, Italy, and are particularly popular for Japanese-Western eclectic Japanese-Western style architecture with a unique taste, such as Daiichi National Bank and Mitsui Bank, and are drawn in many Nishiki-e.
Cultural people of Meiji felt the Seine River in Paris on the armor bridge.
Writers and poets who felt the scent of the Seine River in Paris gather at Maison Kono's nest, a Western restaurant opened on the left side of the Armor Bridge (along several hundred M Sumida River from Nihonbashi) in front (Bread Association: Kaoru Osanai, Kitahara Hakushu, Kafu Nagai, Junichiro Tanizaki, Mushakoji Mitsuru Shima). It seems that police officers were dispatched by too much hustle and bustle. It was this Maison Kono's nest that Kotaro Takamura met Chieko.
In Nihonbashi, you can see the scenery of the water city. Most rivers and buildings have disappeared due to the Great Kanto Earthquake, air raids, and the subsequent high-growth period of rapid growth and transportation infrastructure construction before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, so no one of the Eastern Venice remains today.
Nihonbashi 1-chome redevelopment and Nihonbashi Blue Sky Project will trigger Nihonbashi to become a city close to the waterside.
I would like to take a look at Nihonbashi 30 years later. Would you like to get a little earlier? Whether I have a body ...
※Photo: Display board of the birthplace of the bank, display of the Edo Museum, etc.