Ikebukuro’s yami-ichi (post-war black market), in miniature

A few years ago I went to the Toshima Ward Local Museum 豊島区立郷土資料館 (map). It’s similar to the many small, local museums in Tokyo and Japan: interesting, cheap or free, and not too large. I enjoyed one aspect of the exhibit in particular: a diorama of post-WW2 Ikebukuro, home to a large black market 闇市, pronounced yami-ichi ヤミ市. Here are pictures of the scene:

Here’s a description from the Toshima ward website (translated):  池袋ヤミ市 Ikebukuro black market City (Ikebukuro yami-ichi)

“After World War II, in order to provide food and daily necessities to war-damaged cities such as Tokyo, so-called black market cities (yami-ichi) emerged. Ikebukuro, a key transportation hub, became a typical black market city. The museum has a model of the southern part of Ikebukuro’s black market city at the scale of 1 to 20.”

A longer description is included on the museum website: link (Japanese)

A model of Ikebukuro’s post-WW2 black market, Tokyo Japan.

I believe the museum is now closed for renovations to the building. Hopefully the diorama will survive.

Art

The museum also includes a diagram of one of the artist’s communities that sprung up in the Nagasaki district of Toshima-ku in the 1930s: Nagasaki Atelier Village 長崎アトリエ村:

Note, I recently wrote an article on the artists’ colonies of ‘Ikebukuro Montparnasse’ and Mejiro Cultural Village, published in Metropolis Japan (January, 2018). See: “Bohemian ghosts around Ikebukuro”.

The following page has maps and old photos:

• 長崎アトリエ村－さくらが丘パルテノン－ Nagasaki Atelier Village – Sakuragaoka Parthenon

Today, there is a small park on the edge of the old artist’s community with a map of the area. The park is located here: map.

Some information relating to arts movements in Ikebukuro:

• Toshima museum page (Japanese)
• Toshima Nagasaki 長崎アトリエ村 atelier village
• 池袋モンパルナス Ikebukuro Montparnasse
• Ikebukuro tourism (mentions the atelier village)
• Quake of ’23 gave Ikebukuro its Bohemian roots (The Japan Times)
• さくらが丘パルテノン跡 Sakuragaoka Parthenon ruins
• アトリエ村資料室開設 Atelier Village Library
• アトリエ村最後の一軒 (photos)
• Timeline: link
• Ikebukuro Montparnasse- A Tooth-Grinding Utopia (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre)
• アトリエ村の夢のあと～池袋モンパルナスを訪ねて・リターンズ。 After the atelier village of dreams – visit Ikebukuro Montparnasse -returns. (photos)
• 長崎アトリエ村をゆく(2) Going to Nagasaki atelier village (2)

Black market information:

• Excellent photos of post-war black market 闇市
• Japanese Wikipedia entry for 闇市 (black market)
• Ikebukuro – Mejiro walk 池袋～目白散歩
• THE BLACK MARKET AS CITY: NEW RESEARCH ON ALTERNATIVE URBAN SPACE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN (1945-52)
• 終戦――焼け跡行商 わが原点 ヤミ市攻勢、同業者も退散京セラ名誉会長　稲盛和夫（５） The end of the war – peddling in the ruins of  a Yami City (black market)
• Book: 盛り場はヤミ市から生まれた Black Markets as the Origin of Amusement Quarters (Sakariba wa yamiichi kara umareta)
• Need, Greed, and Protest in Japan’s Black Market, 1938-1949
• A post-war black market in Yokohama: Noge Joyful, Yokohama 野毛ジョイフルマップ

Other current uses of the term “Yami-ichi”

• Internet Yami-ichi (official page)
• Internet Yami-ichi (Berlin edition)
• The Internet Black Market That Brings Online Browsing to Life
• A tour of Internet Yami-ichi, the offline Internet flea market

See also:

• Toshima ward tourism and walking maps