3 replies to this topic

[pinetree221]

I came across this Youtube video showing Tokyo streetscapes around the year 1935, and I thought people on this forum might find it interesting.

[Neo]

Ah, thanks for posting that video!  It is amazing how built up Tokyo was even in 1935.  Great video quality for something like that too, especially for it to be so old.  I wonder how much of what is seen in the video still exists in the city as it is today?

[monsoon]

Neo, on Apr 4 2008, 05:13 PM, said:

....  I wonder how much of what is seen in the video still exists in the city as it is today?

My guess is not much.  Tokyo was pretty much leveled by incendiary bombs in the last year of WWII.  (1944-1945)   The destruction was comparable to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki except of course it took more than one bomb to do it.  

Great video BTW.  Thanks for posting.  Imperial Japan looks remarkably modern in those photos and I would have guess that it was a 1950s city in the USA from the air shots.  I really looks as if the citizens of that Tokyo were well off, comfortable, and enjoyed themselves.

[dpbaker]

Although the video seems to be defunct now, remember too - Tokyo had suffered a large earthquake in 1923 that was quite devastating, so they had that to overcome in the years leading up to that video! (Wish I could have seen it.....) I find Japan simply fascinating, but particularly the period from the Meiji Restoration thru WWII.