What Is the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station?
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station (青梅織物工業協同組合旧都立繊維試験場, Kyū Toritsu Sen'i Shikenjō) is a single-story wooden Western-style building in Nishiwakecho, Ome City, Tokyo, built around 1935 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on November 29, 2016.
As its name says, it once housed a public laboratory serving Ome's weavers. The Agency for Cultural Affairs believes it was first built as a branch of the prefectural dyeing and weaving testing station. In 1935 Tokyo was still a prefecture (fu); it became a metropolis (to) only in 1943, so the "metropolitan" in the name is a later label.
Ome City records that the building was moved to the cooperative's grounds around 1947. It was renovated in 1997 and again in 2006.
Why the Testing Station Was Registered, and How It Became a Cinema
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2016, number 13-0370, for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The agency singles out its Shitami-itabari clapboard walls and plain, restrained design, and calls it a Western-style building that speaks of Ome's prosperous years.
After its laboratory days the testing station served for a time as classrooms, and in 2021 it reopened as Cinema Neko. A 2024 interview describes the work: the building sat on a base of Oya stone, and at the four corners and the center the stone was dug out and replaced with poured concrete to make new footings. The exterior was left as it was and the frame was strengthened against earthquakes, while the interior was almost entirely rebuilt.
One piece of the old interior survives in plain sight. On the lobby wall, the wooden lath that once carried the plaster has been fireproofed and fixed back up strip by strip.
What to Look for at the Testing Station
The arched entrance and its small pediment
The front door of the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station sits in an arched opening topped by a small triangular pediment. On an otherwise plain front it is the one flourish, and the agency's description picks it out as the accent of the design.
Clapboard and a hipped slate roof
The walls are lapped horizontal boards and the roof is a Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof in slate. Today the building is painted pale blue and white, which makes it stand out among the stone storehouse and factory roofs around it. It covers 236 square meters on one floor, so the whole roof can be taken in from the ground.
Watching a film under a timber ceiling
Inside is a 63-seat auditorium. Cinema Neko bills itself as the only cinema in Tokyo housed in a wooden building, with a timber ceiling and large windows. The seats came secondhand from a small cinema that closed in Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture.
Visiting the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station
To see inside the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station, buy a ticket at Cinema Neko. It opens at 9:30 a.m. and since August 2026 has had no regular closing day apart from the New Year holidays. A standard adult ticket costs 2,000 yen; check the official site for films and showtimes, and follow the cinema's rules on photography indoors (checked October 1, 2026).
The exterior can be viewed freely from the grounds, and the arch and pediment read best from straight in front of the entrance. Directions to the site and its other registered buildings are on the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative page.
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Q&A
- What is the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station used for today?
- Since 2021 it has been Cinema Neko, a 63-seat cinema.
- Can I go inside the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station in Ome?
- Yes, as a Cinema Neko customer. It opens at 9:30 a.m. and since August 2026 has no regular closing day apart from the New Year holidays. A standard adult ticket is 2,000 yen.
- When was the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station built?
- Around 1935. It was moved to the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative grounds around 1947, and is thought to have begun as a branch of the prefectural dyeing and weaving testing station.
- What does the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station look like?
- A one-story building with a hipped slate roof and clapboard walls, now painted pale blue and white, with a small pediment above an arched entrance.
- Why is the Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station called "metropolitan"?
- Tokyo became a metropolis in 1943. When the building went up around 1935, it belonged to Tokyo Prefecture.
Basic Information
| Name | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station |
|---|---|
| Location | 123 Nishiwakecho 3-chome, Ome City, Tokyo |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 236 square meters, wooden, single-story |
| Owner | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative |
| Public Access | Operates as Cinema Neko; customers can enter |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs Database: Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station (in Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011272
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Tokyo Metropolitan Textile Testing Station (in Japanese)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/243888
- Koho Ome, January 15, 2017: The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Buildings (in Japanese)
- https://www.city.ome.tokyo.jp/uploaded/attachment/6820.pdf
- Cinema Neko: Theater and Access (in Japanese)
- https://cinema-neko.com/theater.php
- Cinema Neko: History (in Japanese)
- https://cinema-neko.com/history.php
- Cinema Neko: Tickets and Admission (in Japanese)
- https://cinema-neko.com/information.php
- LIFULL HOME'S PRESS: How Cinema Neko Came to Be (in Japanese)
- https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/press/reform/reform_01371/
Last verified: 2026.10.01
