The historic structure served as the inspiration for the design of Nippon Budokan [the “Japan Martial Arts Hall”] in Tokyo more than 1,200 years later.

“Yumedono at Jioguoin”, Horyuji, Nara, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo See also: Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, c. 1965. "The temple of Horyuji rises from the vast plain a few miles from the old capital of Nara. "Unlike the many hillside temples of Kyoto that blend into the wood...

“Yumedono at Jioguoin”, Horiuji, Nara, c. 1910. The octagonal Yumedono [“Hall of Dreams”] is one of Horyuji temple’s most impressive buildings. It was commissioned in 739 as a monument to Prince Shotoku Taishi.

Museum exhibit of a Maruko-bune [Round-bottomed boat], c. 1920. | Old Tokyo See also: Lake Biwa Canal, Otsu, c. 1910-1920. The “Incline Lift”, Kyoto, c. 1910. A Maruko-bune (also spelled Marugata-bune) is a traditional Japanese wooden cargo boat unique to Lake Biwa in Shiga P...

Museum exhibit souvenir postcard of a covered Maruko-bune [Round-bottomed boat], c. 1920, a pole-leveraged cargo vessel unique to Lake Biwa near Kyoto that could also be configured to transport passengers.

It was from these studios, in 1947, where perhaps the idea of a giant, radiated sea monster attacking Tokyo was first “born” on the radio.

During the Pacific War, broadcasts of “Tokyo Rose” and the Emperor’s surrender speech transcription originated from here. During the Occupation (1945-1952), the American Forces Radio Service (AFRS) broadcast in English as WVTR Radio.

Gojira (“Godzilla”) origin on the Far East Network (FEN), 1947. | Old Tokyo 'MONSTER' IN TOKYO ARMY'S JOKE BROADCAST SCARES AMERICANS AND BRITONS TOKYO, May 28 (UPI) An Army radio station described for a gag today a 'battle' between American soldiers and a 'twenty-foot sea mo...

The Tokyo studios of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.), c. 1948.

"Very few people were about, and in the park just a stray poet or two and a photographer."

– A Journal from Japan, by Marie Carmichael Stopes, 1910

“The snow must have fallen nearly all the night for it lay deep this morning. Soon after 10, it became bright and clear, and I set off to see the temples in Shiba Park.

Shiba Park in the Snow, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo See also: Shiba Park Zojoji Temple, c. 1910 "The snow must have fallen nearly all the night for it lay deep this morning. Soon after 10, it became bright and clear, and I set off to see the temples in...

View of Snow at Shiba Park, c. 1910.

The mission continued until 1930 when Israel George and Mary concluded that 1) the mission itself was imperialistic and presumptuous, and 2) increasing nationalism and militarism in Japan were rendering the situation less than optimal for a family mission

In 1920, he was chosen as a missionary to Japan from Zion’s Church in Greenville, PA, living first in Akita before moving to Sendai in 1922, and summering at Lake Nojiri with other missionary families.

Israel George Nace was born in York County, PA, in 1892. He married Mary Keifer in 1918, and was also ordained a minister of the Evangelical & Reformed Church in America the same year.

“Christmas Greetings from the Naces”, Akita, Japan, c. 1930. | Old Tokyo See also: Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, c. 1910. Israel George Nace was born in York County, PA, in 1892. He married Mary Keifer in 1918, and was also ordained ...

“Christmas Greetings from the Naces”, c. 1930. The five Nace children (left to right): Theodore, Margaret, Rebecca, George and Robert.

Isn't that more a result of the spelling system being used at the time, the same one that produced Huji for Fuji, Uyeno for Ueno, Sinjuku for Shinjuku? Can't recall the system name but not Hepburn which is currently used (and recently endorsed, finally, by the government).

"Looking up, deep into that glimmering green, I felt a memory surface, then turn and disappear before I could recognize it. But its passing brought a tear – just one, but real."

– The Japan Journals: 1947-2004, by Donald Richie, edited by Leza Lowitz, 2004

"I said the word softly to myself – the cicada-like drone of the syllable, the sudden halt of the consonant. As I did a soft summer breeze struck the overhead pines. The needles rustled and from them fell a fragrance I had known as a child.

“I stood before the great gate at Engakuji. The naked guardians grimaced, the carved eaves stretched above me, the roof soared and touched the pines. I was about to enter the abode of the Buddha, the world of Daruma, the land of Zen.

Engakuji Temple, Kamakura, c. 1940. | Old Tokyo See also: Daibutsu at Kamakura, c. 1910 Hachiman Temple, Kamakura, c. 1910 "I stood before the great gate at Engakuji. The naked guardians grimaced, the carved eaves stretched above me, the roof soare...

Engakuji Temple, Kamakura, c. 1940.

“When a Japanese goes for a day to Asakusa he does not spend much time over his devotions. You can express your needs in a very few words and Heaven is not so stupid as to require prolonged explanations. There are many objects outside to interest and amuse." – Every-day Japan, by Arthur Lloyd, 1909

Asakusa Park, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo See also: Hanayashiki, Asakusa Park, c. 1920 Ryounkaku (Twelve-storeys Tower), Asakusa Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, Asakusa Sensoji, c. 1910. "On no account should a visit to [the Asakusa Kannon] a...

Park and temple visitors gather at the fountain at Asakusa Park, Tokyo, c. 1910, with the back of Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon) temple in the background.

Tokyo Monorail, c. 1964-70. | Old Tokyo See also: Tokyo (Haneda) International Airport "Tokyo will have the world’s first extensive monorail network which will soon criss-cross the city, turning it into a futuristic metropolis where commute...

Tokyo Monorail departing Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport, c. 1965. A Northwest Airlines “travel” postcard. In the foreground is a 1962 Plymouth Fury sporting an orange US diplomatic license plate.

The inset photo illustrates the ease and safety with which electricity illuminates an eating space.

Fukuoka Industrial Exposition, Kyushu Electric Light & Traction Co. promotional postcard set, Fukuoka, 1920. | Old Tokyo See also: Japan Electrical Exhibition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1918. Evening illuminations, Peace Commemorative Exposition, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1922. Tokyo Exposition for Domestic Industry Promotion in Commem...

Fukuoka Industrial Exposition, Kyushu Electric Light & Traction Co. promotional postcard set, Fukuoka, 1920. One of several postcards published by the primary sponsor of the Exposition to promote the use of electricity at home.

– “The Cherry Blossoms of Japan”, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Volume 79, by Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, 1910

The Edogawa, a canal in the Koshikawa quarter, near the arsenal, is a mile of double blossoms doubled in beauty by reflection, and boats up and down this lane of flowers as the most beautiful of all cherry-blossom effects.”

Yedogawa, Tokyo, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo "The Edogawa, a canal in the Koshikawa quarter, near the arsenal, is a mile of double blossoms doubled in beauty by reflection, and boats up and down this lane of flowers as the most beautiful of all ...

Cherry Blossoms Yedogawa, Tokyo, c. 1910.

Thank you!

The Chiba fields continued to be used into the 1970s until imported LNG surpassed domestic production

In the 1910s, sources of water-soluble natural gas were discovered in shallow methane-rich Chiba Prefecture gas fields. Within 20 years, it had shifted almost entirely away from manufactured gas to extracting natural gas from the Chiba aquifers via a distillation and dehydration process.

Capitalists Shibusawa Eiichi and Asano Sōichirō acquired the Bureau’s assets in 1885 and recapitalized their new venture into Tokyo Kawaraisha KK (Tokyo Gas Company).