Osaka Station 1940 Building

Above, the 1940 Osaka Station Building in 1947. Photo: Armand Vaquer collection.

While perusing my collection of photographs of postwar Japan, a photo of Osaka Station in 1947 caught my attention.

I became curious about the history of Osaka Station and so I did some checking around.

I found this brief history at Go Japan Go's website:

Osaka Station History

Osaka Station opened on May 11, 1874 as one of first railway stations in the Kansai region when the railway between Osaka and Kobe started operation. It was electrified along with the Tōkaidō Main Line in 1934. 

The existence of the station naturally made the area the primary transportation hub of the city. Railways that set Osaka Station as the terminal or built their terminal around Osaka Station include Osaka Railway (present-day east half of the Osaka Loop Line) in 1895, Nishinari Railway (west half of the Osaka Loop Line) in 1898, Hanshin Electric Railway in 1906, Minoo Arima Electric Tramway (Hankyu Railway) in 1910, and Osaka Municipal Subway in 1933. The regional railways tended to name their stations Umeda, the name of area, rather than the city name. 

The air raids in World War II flattened the blocks in front of the station. Immediately after the war the area turned into a huge black market, the atmosphere of which remained until the redevelopment in 1970s. 

The station building was rebuilt in 1901, 1940 and 1979 (north building). In 1983, a high-rise building, Acty Osaka, which housed a department store and a hotel, was added to the south of the station. Currently (as of 2008) a new building is under construction to replace the north building; when completed in 2011, the station itself will also have an atrium above the platforms connecting the two buildings, and a glass dome covering the complex.

After reading this, I started checking around for another photo of the 1940 Osaka Station building but could not locate any. It appears I have something quite rare.

In looking at the current Osaka Station, it is hard to believe that the photo at top is a prior incarnation of it.

The photograph of the 1940 Osaka Station was taken by my cousin's father-in-law in 1947 while he was stationed in the Osaka area during the Occupation of Japan.