Deconstruction: Demolishing a Showa Era House in the Neighborhood (this post is still under construction...)

Saturday, September 6, 2025

Deconstruction: Demolishing a Showa Era House in the Neighborhood (this post is still under construction...)

I moved into my neighborhood in 2003. Most of the houses were new and very ordinary. From the outside, there was really no architectural evidence of any particular Japanese design. But there was one large, older "traditional" Japanese house with three kura (storehouses) on a large plot of land where an elderly couple lived. I only had contact with the couple once, when I was the local han-cho (block leader) out collecting the annual neighborhood association dues. The dues were 200 yen per month, 2,400 yen for the year. But this older couple always gave 10,000 yen. As the years went on the house and property became more and more unkept. Eventually the couple passed away and the house was empty.

This summer in July, the house started to be demolished. VAoJ has documented and lamented recent older house demolitions in the neighborhood. You can see previous posts on this subject here, here and here.

In place of the old homes are empty lots, new apartment complexes and new osharei (stylish, and presumably expensive) houses, all adding to the "bed-town" atmosphere of the neighborhood (where people live and sleep but work elsewhere and do not interact with neighbors).

I talked with our shi-cho (neighborhood chief), a life-long resident who happens to be a retired architect and he told me the demolished house was built in the Showa Era (1926 - 1989), post-war around 1950. At that time the rural land was mostly rice fields. The house and much of the surroundings was owned by a family by the name of Akai. There are still a few descendent Akai families living in similar large Showa Era houses in the area.

VAoJ has recenlty become interested in the history of this neighborhood, and so a future project might ensue (stay tuned).

April, 2019

I happened to take this photo in 2019, so you can get an idea of what the house was like. (I wish I had taken more photos of the house.)

September, 2024 (image taken from Google Street View)

I was able to find this photo on Google Street View from last year. Here you can see that the front kura had been demolished and replaced with a metal fence.

July 15, 2025

The demolition started in mid-July. It was a long and slow process as there were only three construction workers and two large heavy equipment earthmovers. The days were extremely hot and humid which also had to add to the slower undertaking. The demolition process was very close to my house. There were times when the ground and my house shook violently, like an earthquake or a bombing (living through this everyday from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM for over a month was psychologically distressing; I cannot imagine how people in natural disasters and wars deal with such situations). What follows is a series of 49 photos (out of 200 of so total shots) organized by dates. I usually took the shots in the early evening after the construction workers left. Most shots were from the outside, but once I was able to go inside the house before it was totally leveled.

July 18, 2025

July 19, 2025

July 24, 2025

July 25, 2025

I found this artifact in the rubble. The name "Akai" in kanji is carved in the handle. There are some worn markings on the ax head which I have not been able to decipher yet. Anaylysis continues...

July 28, 2025