Official

Ph.D. This is a photo around Nihonbashi in 1944.

Oh, this is an interesting picture. It's just before I was born.

Doctor, take a look. There is a outer moat under Tokyo Station, and the Gofuku Bridge is built. If you go down the Nihonbashi River and pass Edobashi, you can see the Kaede River flowing.

Well, this is a precious photo. The Tokyo Olympics are 20 years after this photo, and there is no capital highway yet. The 30-ma Horikawa in Ginza is also before the landfill.

Tips for Free Research: Let's compare it to the aerial photograph of 2006 (Heisei 18), which is just next to the site.

Dr., this picture is called Kidai Shoran, and the state of Imagawa Bridge is depicted from Nihonbashi in the late Edo period, around the second year of culture (1805).

Oh, sir. I'll check it out again this time. Whose work is it?

I don't know yet. Professor and his wife at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, found them in the attic of relatives. I don't know what happened before that. It was first released in Berlin in 2000, and in 2003 it was also released at the Edo Tokyo Museum. It's right now at the National Museum of Asian Art in Berlin.

Well, this is a reproduction, isn't it?

Yeah. Thanks to the hard work of the people in the Nihonbashi area, a 1.4x size reproduction has been exhibited here since 2009.

Tips for Free Research: Actually go to the underpass of Mitsukoshimae Station and look for shops, bridges, people, animals, etc. depicted in Kidai Shoran!

Doctor, this is an underpass, but the sun is shining.

It's near Exit A9 at Mitsukoshimae Station. Here, there is a remote island department store operated by the Amamachi Tourism Association in Shimane Prefecture, and I sometimes come to play. It's fun just to see rare food and drinks ordered from islands all over Japan.

Tips for Free Research: Let's actually go to the remote island department store and see what kind of things are sold!

Doctor, Mitsukoshimae Station on Tokyo Metro is connected to JR Shin-Nihonbashi Station. Shin-Nihonbashi Station opened 50 years ago on July 15, 1972.

When I was young, the temporary high-speed train "Blue Sea" ran for Tateyama and "White Sand" ran for Katsuura only during summer. I miss you.

Doctor, there's a station stamp here. It's a great deal, so I'll push it on my notebook. This is a kanji character called "bashi".

That's right. The stamp at JR East station was renewed in 2020 for the first time in 17 years. It seems that the stamp expresses "one kanji character of the station name" and "History and characteristics around the station".

Well, the bridge written on this stamp is "Nihonbashi".

Tips for Free Research: Let's actually press the stamp at Shin-Nihonbashi Station. There are also stamps at Tokyo Station, Bakurocho Station, and Hatchobori Station, so look for them and push them.

Doctor, I went to the ground from Exit 5 of Shin-Nihonbashi Station. This is Showa-dori, isn't it?

That's right. Showa-dori is a road that was built in 1928 as a reconstruction project following the Great Kanto Earthquake. The photo of 1944 that I saw earlier clearly shows Showa-dori until the Metropolitan Expressway was built.

Hey. Showa-dori has been around for quite a long time. Doctor, this is the end of this time. I'll write this underpass as the second free study during summer vacation.

That's a good idea. I'm expecting a great work.

Hello, this is the correspondent "Take-chan". This time, I wrote it for kids too. I chose the underpass as the last time. This course is short, but there are many highlights.

Hot days are still continuing, but underpasses are less susceptible to heat stroke, so why don't you walk together as a candidate for free study for your child?

Oh, of course, Kenki Sakamoto and Dr. Civil Engineering are fictional figures. It has nothing to do with a real person.