This was a heartfelt and touching read—thank you for sharing. Your very own sliver of what remains of Imperial Tokyo history—and the visit of your marebito—makes the events which occurred in those awful last years of the war, all the more real.
I’ll make sure to pop by and visit Tokyo Little House in the coming months. Looking forward to browsing your collection of books and maps whilst enjoying a coffee. - Cheers
It is not a well known fact that the conventional bombing of Japan in 1945 killed more people by far than any other bombing campaign in WW2. It wasn't just Tokyo - Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya and pretty much every other major city save Kyoto were mostly burned to the ground as well as the dockyards (and surroundings) in Yokosuka, Kure and so on
In fact according to a graphic my wife showed me on FB yesterday in aggregate it was more than were killed by the two atomic bombs (but I can't find that graphic nor the source of the statistics, so I'm not sure that's true)
"A window to the past”—such a simple phrase, but in this context, it feels like something closer to time travel. What moved me most was how the house isn’t just preserved, but given a new social function. It’s not nostalgia—it’s continuity. Time can breathe sideways, not only forward. A rare and beautiful thing to witness in an urban setting. Congrats.
This was a heartfelt and touching read—thank you for sharing. Your very own sliver of what remains of Imperial Tokyo history—and the visit of your marebito—makes the events which occurred in those awful last years of the war, all the more real.
I’ll make sure to pop by and visit Tokyo Little House in the coming months. Looking forward to browsing your collection of books and maps whilst enjoying a coffee. - Cheers
What a great true story about the neighborhood in Tokyo where I had my first full-time job a lifetime ago!
It is not a well known fact that the conventional bombing of Japan in 1945 killed more people by far than any other bombing campaign in WW2. It wasn't just Tokyo - Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya and pretty much every other major city save Kyoto were mostly burned to the ground as well as the dockyards (and surroundings) in Yokosuka, Kure and so on
In fact according to a graphic my wife showed me on FB yesterday in aggregate it was more than were killed by the two atomic bombs (but I can't find that graphic nor the source of the statistics, so I'm not sure that's true)
Thank you for sharing the story of the kind cardboard ojii-san!
"A window to the past”—such a simple phrase, but in this context, it feels like something closer to time travel. What moved me most was how the house isn’t just preserved, but given a new social function. It’s not nostalgia—it’s continuity. Time can breathe sideways, not only forward. A rare and beautiful thing to witness in an urban setting. Congrats.
Thank you for the wonderful writing