For Sale: Historic Taisho-Modern House in Shinjuku
*Update: This house was sold and demolished.
One of the first homes to be built in the Mejiro Bunka-mura subdivision is for sale. The pre-war home is one of just a very small number of surviving historic houses in this neighbourhood. As much as 70% of the Bunka-mura neighbourhood was destroyed during air raids in 1944 and 1945, while urban development in recent decades saw the demolition of many the few remaining original residences.
Although the age of this house is unknown, the Taisho-Modern style house could potentially be 90+ years old.
The property is being sold as land only, with the house to be included as-is. No value has been placed on the house as it is expected a buyer will demolish it to build a new one. As such, it is listed at land value. Read more
Town to buy 300-yr old house for 38 million Yen
Matsuzaki Town in Shizuoka’s Izu Peninsula will be purchasing the 300-year old former Yoda Residence for 38.4 million Yen (approx. 337,000 USD). The town’s budget for acquisition and preservation of the property is expected to total 48.7 million Yen, which includes 10 million Yen to acquire the rights to a hot spring source.
The property includes the heritage-listed 300+ year old main house and warehouse. The Yoda family has been a landowner for many generations and found success in the silk industry during the Edo period. At one time the house was the family home of Yoda Benzo (1853-1925), one of Hokkaido’s early pioneers and founding settlers.Read more
Modernist building in Yokohama to be demolished next month
One of Yokohama's early examples of modernist architecture will soon be demolished. The Prefectural Police Headquarters Onoecho Government Building was built in 1952. The 3-story concrete building with a curved exterior, floor-to-ceiling glass windows and no front entrance is considered one of the city’s modernist masterpieces.Read more
Luxury hotel planned for historic site in Nara Park
Nara Prefecture is accepting bids from private companies for a hotel development to be located within the Nara Park grounds in Nara City. The 1.3 hectare site is located on the southern side of Nara Park’s Ukimi-do Hall, and was purchased by the prefecture from the national government in 2005.
Prior to the Meiji Restoration, the property was home to one of Kofuku-ji’s sub-temples. In 1890 it was sold to Nara poet Haruyasu Umeda (1850-1917). From 1911, it became the holiday villa of Kenshiro Yamaguchi (1886-1957), a wealthy banker and president of the Kansai Trust Bank (the predecessor of the Toyo Trust Bank, which is now part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation). After WWII, the annex of the Nara Family Court was built on the land. The land is currently vacant although traces of the original Japanese garden remain.Read more
Modernist factory discovered after 76 years
A factory designed by one of Japan’s leading modernist architects during WWII has been discovered in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka. The factory was designed by Togo Murano (1891-1984) and completed in 1941. The steel-frame building is 60 meters wide and 150 meters long.
Long-since thought to have been one of Murano’s ‘phantom factories’ that were never constructed, this steel mill in the Tobata District of the Yawata Steel Works is still in use 76 years after its construction. Several other factories designed by Murano were built in Yawata but later demolished.Read more
400-room hotel planned opposite Olympic Stadium
Major Japanese real estate company Mitsui Fudosan and Meiji Shrine are planning to develop a 13-story, 400-room hotel to be located directly across the street from the Olympic Stadium.
If approved, construction of the 50-meter tall building could start in January 2018 with completion by mid-2019.Read more
Ginza’s oldest bar to close
Ginza’s oldest bar will close this month and the historic 89-year old building is likely to be demolished as the 80-year old owner is struggling to maintain the ageing structure.
Bordeaux opened in 1927 in a two-story European-style building in the Ginza 8 Chome address. It hosted many famous patrons over the years including Mitsumasa Yonai (37th Prime Minister of Japan), and Isoroku Yamamoto (Japanese Marshal Admiral). Businessman Jiro Shirasu (Wikipedia), was said to have had a permanently reserved seat in front of the fireplace.Read more