The View from the Street: Part II

The structures pictured comprise Minatopia, the museum complex devoted to Niigata City's history and culture. The topmost photo shows the main museum building, a replica of Niigata City's second generation City Hall, completed in 1922. Below that is the Sumiyoshi Branch of the Daishi (Big Four) Bank, built in 1927 and moved to its present location to make way for a road-widening project. The two structures at bottom are the Old Custom House and its adjacent storehouse. The Custom House is by far the oldest of the group, having been constructed in 1869 to accomodate foreign trade with then newly reopened Japan. Niigata was one of Japan's five treaty ports; each would have had its own custom house to facilitate trade. Niigata's is the only one remaining today, and was used without interruption until 1966.