What? Where?! 何？どこ？！
Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Quiz
What used to be a typical view in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, now increasingly rare.
A wood/timber shop, and in front of Kiba Park 木場公園 of all places. (The Japanese characters for Kiba stand for place for wood/trees). During the Edo period this area became the wood warehouse district of a growing city, a city made of wood. Felled trees were brought here and fashioned into beams and other parts, that is why “kiba” became “kiba”. Many of these lumber yards and warehouses were located in what is now Kiba park, the factories being moved farther away to Shin-Kiba (new Kiba) in the late 1960’s.
A few timber shops still remain open in the area, and the very high ceilings required for wood have in the past years been repurposed by coffee roasters.
3×3:
Kiba Park 木場公園 (kiba-koen)
lumber/timber/wood 材木 (zaimoku)
tree 木 (ki)
Updated 2016.3.19 AM with two additional images, and 3.23 with the location.