Rebuilding Ginza Picture Scrolls: 1953

This picture scroll was drawn by Asō Yutaka, an artist popular in Japan for his postwar four-panel newspaper comic, Nonki na Tōsan (various English titles, roughly "Carefree Dad"). He documented the process of rebuilding Ginza, the district of Tokyo where his studio was located, after World War II. This scene depicts the Yūrakuchō area and the area around the present-day Ginza Inns building. The Ginza Piccadilly is in the center, and a large Asahi Shimbun newspaper office and the Sukiyabashi bridge are on the left. The remains of Edo Castle from the Edo Period (1603-1868) are still visible in this picture, though they were later buried so the Tokyo Expressway could be constructed. The Yūrakuchō Marion building now stands where the Ginza Piccadilly and the Asahi Shimbun office are in the picture.