An elephant lived on the roof for 4 years: the 1954 spire recalls its shape.
Between 1950 and 1954 a young female elephant named Takako lived on the roof of the department store: when she grew too big she was moved to the zoo, and the 1954 extension dedicated to her a spire shaped like an elephant's back, still visible today. Once a month, on the second Thursday, a free tour of about an hour shows the period manual lift, the ammonite fossils in the marble and the original 1933 windows.
Takashimaya in Nihonbashi, built in 1933 to a design by Takahashi Teitarō and extended after the war by Murano Tōgo, became in 2009 the first department store building to be designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
ℹ️ Open 10:30–19:30 (main building), 10:30–20:00 (new building). Free entry to the store. The culture tour, on the second Thursday of the month, has very limited places (about 10–15 people) and is booked by phone on the 1st of the previous month.
🚉 Nihombashi · 3 min walk
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