Hitachi Aircraft's Tachikawa electric substation

[miyakoji]

Here's an interesting one I found through the jiji.com link that Bill posted in Gmat's Start of a Holiday Season thread. I saw a small thumbnail of this building, so I had to click :). It was built in 1938 by Tokyo Gas Electric, but the following year that company merged with Hitachi, and the facility was then used to supply electricity to Hitachi Aircraft's Tachikawa engine factory. As you can see in the pictures, it was bombed but not directly hit, apparently between February and April of 1945. It continued to operate as a substation until 1993. The surrounding Metropolitan Higashiyamato Minami Park was established that year, and since 1995 it has been preserved and administered by Higashiyamato City as a historical asset.

 

Nearest station is Tamagawa Jousui on the Seibu Haijima and Tama Monorail lines.

 

various photos:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hitachi_plane_Tachikawa_transformer_substation

http://www.tawatawa.com/densen3w/page017.html

http://homepage2.nifty.com/matsuken/sanpo09.htm

 

Japanese wikipedia page:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A7%E6%97%A5%E7%AB%8B%E8%88%AA%E7%A9%BA%E6%A9%9F%E7%AB%8B%E5%B7%9D%E5%B7%A5%E5%A0%B4%E5%A4%89%E9%9B%BB%E6%89%80

 

 

google map centered on Metropolitan Higashiyamato Minami Park, with substation at middle left: http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=é½ç«æ±å¤§ååå¬åå&hl=ja&ie=UTF8&ll=35.73527,139.424078&spn=0.003758,0.006003&sll=36.5626,136.362305&sspn=59.481591,98.349609&brcurrent=3,0x6018e0e6cf083fe7:0x54f8f0a82f31473c,0&hq=é½ç«æ±å¤§ååå¬åå&t=m&z=18

[ToniBabelony]

Wow. I see they didn't bother repairing the bullet holes!

[miyakoji]

Yeah, I wonder why. I like these older Japanese concrete structures, they have a unique character.

 

Also, if you use the street view function of google maps, you can see they created a sort artistic area around the back of it, with old industrial electrical equipment partially buried in the ground. Very interesting, I wonder what it's supposed to mean.

[cteno4]

Miyakoji,

 

You have a location link for google maps for it?

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

[miyakoji]

here's one centered on the building: http://maps.google.com/?ll=35.735337,139.421707&spn=0.001879,0.003001&t=m&z=19

[tantousha]

Fascinating... Definitely a sight to add for the next trip to Japan!

[cteno4]

Thanks Miyakoji.

 

Nice walk around. Interesting use of the old parts.

 

Jeff

[westfalen]

Very interesting. One of the things I like about Japan is finding the occasional thing like this.