Nakamuraya and Telephone Callers - Humanity in Shinjuku at the End of the Meiji Era

Nakamuraya and Telephone Callers - Humanity in Shinjuku at the End of the Meiji Era

In the late Meiji period, before Shinjuku was established as a downtown area of Tokyo, Nakamuraya, now known as a long-established shop, relocated from Hongo. At that time, Shinjuku was on its way to urbanization while still retaining the atmosphere of a post town centering on Oiwake, and telephones, a modern means of communication, were extremely rare. It was far from being widely used in homes, and only a limited number of merchant families owned telephones.

The author's house unusually had a telephone, the number of which was called "107 in Bancho. However, there were no telephones in the neighborhood yet, so people in the town would call the author's house if they had business to do. He would then turn to Nakamuraya, who was across the street, and call out loudly, "Hey Nakamuraya, you have a phone call! he called out loudly. It was impressive to see Mrs. Kuromitsu rush to the scene while removing the tusk from her back.

This act is symbolic of a time when communities complemented each other's lives, before privacy and secrecy of communication were still a consideration. Telephone charges were not based on a frequency system, and since there was no great burden to use the system, it was shared naturally as part of neighborhood interaction. At the end of the year, a bag of sugar called "sanbaku" was given as a token of appreciation, and the custom of mutual assistance was alive and well.

These scenes show that in the rapidly modernizing Tokyo, the Shinjuku area was still surrounded by the warmth of human kindness. Nakamuraya eventually became not only a bakery but also a center for cultural exchange, and became deeply involved in the history of Shinjuku, but its origins lie in these simple and humane interactions.