Forty-Five Square Metres on Showa-dori
The former Miyawaki Building (旧宮脇ビル, Kyu-Miyawaki Biru, known today as the Kawasaki Brand Design Building / 川崎ブランドデザインビルヂング) is a three-storey reinforced-concrete commercial building in Ginza 1-chome, Chuo Ward, Tokyo, completed in 1932 and entered on Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 13 March 2025. Its total floor area at ground level is 45 square metres.
Read that figure again. Forty-five square metres is smaller than many one-bedroom flats, and this is three floors of it. The frontage measures roughly four metres, the depth roughly nine, and because the corner plot pinches toward the rear, the plan comes out as a trapezoid rather than a rectangle. No architect would draw that shape by choice. It came from the land.
The land, in turn, came from a catastrophe. Showa-dori, the wide avenue the building faces, was cut through central Tokyo as part of the reconstruction that followed the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Driving a new boulevard through an existing street grid leaves odd residual plots along its edges, and this was one of them. A commercial building went up on it in 1932, built out to every boundary line. The gallery that occupies the building today records that it originally housed the office of an oil merchant. The name of the architect has not come down to us.
In 1942, in the middle of the Pacific War, an eastern bay was added using a rigid-frame structure and joined to the original western portion, which has reinforced-concrete walls carrying timber floors. From the pavement the two halves read as a single building. A further refurbishment was carried out in 2023.
Why a Small Building Was Registered
Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties (登録有形文化財) is worth explaining, because it is not the same thing as the categories foreign visitors hear about most often. Introduced in 1996, it applies a light regulatory touch to buildings roughly fifty years old or older: owners notify the government before altering or demolishing a registered structure and receive technical guidance and limited tax relief in return. Important Cultural Property (重要文化財) and National Treasure (国宝) status sit above it and carry permit requirements rather than notification. The former Miyawaki Building holds the registered tier, under registration number 13-0516, granted in the 109th round of registrations.
The criterion applied was the one covering structures that contribute to the historic character of the national landscape. Behind that formula lies a simple argument about scarcity.
After 1923, Ginza rebuilt itself in fireproof materials, and small concrete commercial buildings went up along the reconstruction avenues in considerable numbers. Almost none survive. Firebombing in 1945 took some; the land economics of postwar Ginza took most of the rest. The Agency for Cultural Affairs assessment identifies the building as a surviving example of the fire-resistant commercial architecture that flourished in Ginza after the earthquake, and the owner describes it as the only prewar building of its kind left along the Ginza stretch of Showa-dori.
It nearly went as well. The present owner bought the property in 2013 with a high-rise replacement already commissioned from a prominent architect, then halted the scheme and kept the building instead. Since then it has operated as MUSEE GINZA, a contemporary art gallery. The registration came in March 2025, after roughly a decade of preparatory survey work involving Chuo Ward's local history museum and outside researchers.
What to Look at When You Get There
Start with the tiles, and get close to them. The exterior is faced in scratch tile, the ubiquitous cladding of Japanese buildings between the wars, but not the usual combed kind. The owner describes it as a glazed custom variety with a raised, irregular surface, so that the wall catches light unevenly rather than reading as a flat brown plane. On an overcast afternoon the difference is subtle. In low sun it is obvious.
Then step back and look up. The facade is organised around tall, narrow window openings running the full height, a proportion that makes four metres of frontage feel taller than three storeys have any right to. This vertical emphasis is what the Agency's description picks out, along with the tilework, as the means by which the whole composition is pulled together.
Inside, the finishes shift register. White gallery walls sit beneath a Japanese cedar ceiling, a piece of traditional carpentry inside a concrete shell. On the stair landing there is a steel-framed window of a type that has almost vanished from Tokyo; the gallery reports it was uncovered and reproduced during the 2023 work. The stair itself stops at a wall on the top landing. The building has no more room to give.
Getting in requires a little planning. MUSEE GINZA opens on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 13:30 to 15:00, admission free, with appointments given priority; it closes Monday through Thursday and takes occasional additional days off, so a check of the gallery website before setting out is sensible. Longer public openings happen during the Tokyo Architecture Festival in May and Tokyo Cultural Properties Week in late October and early November, when the building has drawn thousands of visitors. Ask staff before photographing, since exhibited artworks are subject to their own restrictions. The nearest station is Ginza-itchome on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line, exit 10, about three minutes on foot; Kyobashi and Ginza stations are both within a ten-minute walk, and Chuo Ward has several other registered buildings, including the Ginza Lion Building and the Tamaoki Bunjiro Building, in the surrounding blocks.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside the former Miyawaki Building (Kawasaki Brand Design Building), and what are the opening hours?
- Yes. The building operates as the MUSEE GINZA gallery, open Friday to Sunday from 13:30 to 15:00 with free admission and priority given to visitors who make an appointment. It is closed Monday to Thursday, and occasional extra closures are announced on the gallery website, so it is worth confirming before you travel. Longer openings are scheduled during the Tokyo Architecture Festival in May and Tokyo Cultural Properties Week around the start of November.
- How do I reach the former Miyawaki Building from the nearest station?
- Take the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line to Ginza-itchome station and leave by exit 10, which puts you on Showa-dori about three minutes' walk away. Kyobashi station on the Ginza Line and Ginza station are each roughly a ten-minute walk, and Tokyo station is about fifteen minutes on foot.
- Why was the former Miyawaki Building registered as a Cultural Property, and what does that status mean?
- It was registered on 13 March 2025 under the criterion for structures contributing to the historic character of the national landscape, as a surviving example of the fire-resistant commercial buildings that went up across Ginza after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Registration (登録有形文化財) is a notification-based system that is lighter than Important Cultural Property or National Treasure designation: the owner tells the government before altering or demolishing the building and receives guidance and some tax relief.
- Why do sources give two different addresses for the former Miyawaki Building?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records the land-parcel number, Ginza 1-chome 207, which is how registered properties are logged. Chuo Ward and the gallery use the street address, Ginza 1-20-17. Both point to the same corner of Showa-dori; use the street address for navigation.
- Can I take photographs at the former Miyawaki Building?
- The exterior can be photographed freely from the street. Inside, the building functions as a working gallery and exhibited artworks may carry their own restrictions, so ask staff on arrival rather than assuming.
- What was the former Miyawaki Building originally used for?
- The gallery that now occupies it records that the 1932 building housed the office of an oil merchant. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classifies it under tertiary industry as a commercial building but does not name the original tenant, and the architect is unrecorded.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Miyawaki Building (Kawasaki Brand Design Building) / 旧宮脇ビル（川崎ブランドデザインビルヂング） |
|---|---|
| Location | Ginza 1-chome 207, Chuo Ward, Tokyo (street address: Ginza 1-20-17) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 13-0516 |
| Year Designated | 2025 (registered and gazetted 13 March, 109th registration round) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Reinforced concrete, three storeys; building area 45 square metres; frontage approx. 4 m, depth approx. 9 m, trapezoidal plan |
| Owner | Not recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database; held by Kawasaki Brand Design, which runs the building as MUSEE GINZA |
| Public Access | Interior open as a gallery, Friday to Sunday 13:30 to 15:00, free, appointment preferred; exterior visible from Showa-dori at any time |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015295
- Cultural Heritage Online
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/622429
- Chuo City, Tokyo: Former Miyawaki Building
- https://www.city.chuo.lg.jp/a0052/bunkakankou/rekishi/kunibunkazai/0703132.html
- MUSEE GINZA_KawasakiBrandDesign (building owner and gallery)
- https://kawasaki-brand-design.com/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/toroku_yukei.html
Last verified: 2026.08.22