News from JNTO

© Homma　Takashi

Tokyo is adding yet another new art museum to the Marunouchi area on April 6th, 2010. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo focuses on modern art works from the middle of the 18th to the 20th century.

The architecture of this new complex is based upon the original building designed by British architect Josiah Conder, who also designed the famous Meiji-era state guesthouse Rokumeikan. The building was completed in 1894 and served as the first office building in the Marunouchi area.  It was also the first Queen Anne style red-brick building, whose style other nearby office buildings copied, making this quarter known as "Itcho London" (one mile London.)

When the reconstruction and restoration project started in 2006, they used 2,300,000 pieces of red brick, made by the original methods from 100 years ago, and restored the interior space exactly as looked in the old days.

The museum cafe "Café 1894" and the museum shop "Store 1894" have already opened in the space that once housed a bank, and they retain the building's nostalgic atmosphere with the bank's vaulted ceiling and tiled floor.

Once you set foot in the building you will suddenly be immersed in the cozy and retrospective air of an art museum in the middle of Tokyo's busy business district.

http://mimt.jp/english/english.html

© Homma　Takashi