161215-0035 - Tokyo Ginza

Rickshaws on Tokyo’s Ginza avenue in the late 1870s. This is now the intersection at Ginza 4-chome (銀座4丁目).

The corner building on the left housed the offices of daily newspaper Choya Shimbun (朝野新聞). The pro-democratic anti-government newspaper was founded in 1874 (Meiji 7) and discontinued in 1893 (Meiji 26).

In 1894, watchmaker Kintaro Hattori (服部金太郎, 1860-1934) bought the building and build the iconic Hattori Clock Tower here. The famous Wako Building now stands at this location.

Across the street (on the right of this photo) were the offices of daily Tokyo Akebono Shinbun (東京曙新聞), located here from December 1876 (Meiji 9) through March 1882 (Meiji 15).

Fires destroyed Ginza in 1872 (Meiji 5), prompting the Tokyo Government to contract Irish architect Thomas J. Waters to design fire-resistant Western style buildings.

When the multi-year plan was completed in 1877 (Meiji 10), Ginza became Tokyo’s trendiest shopping avenue and the base of many newspapers.

Tentatively attributed to Shuzaburo Usui (臼井秀三郎, years unknown).