is the former home of post-war Japanese bureaucrat

Jirō Shirasu was a Japanese businessman and official. He was a confidant of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and served as a liaison between Japanese cabinet and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers during the American occupation of Japan. Early life an ...

and his wife Masako Shirasu, located in

Machida, Tokyo is a Cities of Japan, city located in West Tokyo, the western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 428,851, and a population density of 6,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Due to ...

, to the west of downtown Tokyo. The name was derived from an amalgamation of ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' for the former provinces of Musashi and Sagami, as its location is near the border between the two provinces. The house was a traditional farm house, located in what was then a rural area of

Minamitama District, Tokyo Minamitama (南多摩郡, ''Minamitama-gun'', South Tama) was a Districts of Japan, district or county (''gun'') of Tokyo (''Metropolis''/Prefecture), Japan. It was created in the early Meiji era when the old Tama District, Musashi, Tama District ...

. It was acquired by the Shirasu family in October 1942 while Jirō Shirasu was still a businessman working for the predecessor of

Nichirei is one of Japan's top producers of frozen foods and a leader in cold storage warehousing, headquartered in Tokyo. Operating through around 80 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, its businesses include processed food; logistics; marine produc ...

Corporation. Predicting that his residence in

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

in downtown Tokyo would be endangered due to the worsening war situation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and to avoid possible food shortages. His foresight paid off when his Shinjuku house was destroyed in the 1945

bombing of Tokyo The was a series of air raids on Japan by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), primarily launched during the closing campaigns of the Pacific War, Pacific Theatre of World War II in 1944–1945, prior to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima ...

. In the post-war era, he continued to use the house while working with

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

Shigeru Yoshida was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1948 to 1954, serving through most of the country's occupation after World War II. Yoshida played a major role in determining the cour ...

in negotiations with the American occupation authorities. Jirō Shirasu died in 1985 and his wife in 1998. The house was preserved by the city of Machida as a memorial museum to the couple, and is kept as it appeared when they lived there, with items varying according to the seasons. The house is a wooden structure constructed in the traditional style with a thatched roof, surrounded by

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

References

External links

* official home page
Go Tokyo , Buaiso
Museums in Tokyo Historic house museums in Japan Machida, Tokyo {{Japan-museum-stub