TTokyo

In Taito-ku, a burnt out utility pole was preserved since the 1945 bombing

  • March 10, 2026


Today marks 81 years since Tokyo was reduced to ashes, on March 10 1945. 100,000 people died in that night, this always gives me the creeps.

Few traces of that horrible night subsist, but a burnt out utility pole was preserved on a random street corner in Taito-ku, somewhere between Ueno and Akihabara.

Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/6F7Rry2GSdCgykdLA

by biwook

9 comments

  1. > somewhere between Ueno and Akihabara.

    Did you write this like? I read this and thought oh cool! I should walk there tomorrow. Then I clicked your link and think our definitions of “between” are very different. Did you mean between Ueno and Asakusa?

    Cool find! In Sendagi there’s a little Jizo shrine for a building fire bombed resulting in many civilian and children deaths… a sad reminder of the horrors of war

  5. Oh its the one by the Kakimori stationary store. When I was visiting Japan, I wanted to go see the museum for the fire bombing and was quite disappointed compared to museums and memorials in Berlin. I saw this telephone pole by chance going to Kakimori and quite moved and disappointed. In order for a country to move forward, it has to honor the pain and suffering of its own people. The Tokyo Fire Bombing is one of the great tragedies of WWII and yet I feel like the pain and suffering of the Tokyo citizens were buried and forgotten. If you cant honor the pain and suffering of your own people, how can other countries victims take Japan’s apology sincerely? Thats was my reflection as a grandson of a victim of IJA.

  7. If that were in the town where I was born, somebody would’ve snapped it, sprayed it with pink paint, pissed on it, sawn it off it and set fire to it again by now.

    Nothing of any value survives unmolested in the town where I grew up.

  8. Somewhere near Tobu Asakusa station in Sumida Park, there’s a small memorial to victims of the air raids. I can’t recall where exactly, but walking along Sumida Park in that area it’s slightly hidden.

  9. The Kototoi bridge in Asakusa is to this day, stained brown from the fat of burnt victims.

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