TOPIC OF THE WEEK JANUARY 27. 2023~

Dojunkai Apartments and Shibuya

The year 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that occurred on September 1, 1923. The Dojunkai Apartments were reinforced concrete apartment complexes built by the Dojunkai Foundation, an organization established by the Ministry of Home Affairs with funds donated to support the earthquake relief efforts.
　These high-class apartments were equipped with the most advanced technology of the time, including electricity, gas, dust chute, flush toilets, etc., and were home to high-income and intellectual people such as lawyers, teachers, and newspaper reporters. The Daikanyama (then Shibuya) Apartments (now the Daikanyama Address) (1927-1996) and the Aoyama Apartments (now Omotesando Hills) (1926-2003) were built in Shibuya Ward.
　While most apartments today are built in a uniform manner, the Daikanyama Apartments consisted of various styles of units, including those for singles and households. The Aoyama apartment was located along the approach to the Meiji Shrine, so the building was kept at a distance from the approach, trees were planted, the exterior wall of the rooftop was raised to prevent laundry from being seen, and it was the "only" one in the Dojun-kai that had a common bath on each floor, rather than a public bath.
　The exhibition includes exterior and interior photos of both apartments, as well as fine fittings, doors, the main pillar of the staircase, and the register used in the dining room. At the time when tatami mats were the norm, the apartment building had a cork floor with a mat on top of it, in anticipation of Western-style living. The cork is also on display. The Daikanyama Apartment was built on the site of Aoyama Jogakuin, which was still under construction, and the bricks used to build Aoyama Jogakuin are also on display. The damage to Tokyo caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Date: - 3/26 (Sun)
Venue: Shirane Memorial Shibuya Ward Folk Museum
Closest Sta: Shibuya Sta

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