Report of Individual Special Research Subsidy in 2023

Associate Professor Masakazu Ishigure of the School of Architecture conducted a historical study on urban spatial organization arising from post–World War II population movements in East Asia, supported by an Individual Special Research Subsidy.
This project extends his previous research on the formation of black markets in postwar Japanese cities, situating it within a broader framework of temporary urban districts that emerged across East Asia during the Cold War period. Fieldwork was carried out in Tokyo and Gifu, where new urban districts took shape in the aftermath of the war. The research included on-site measurement surveys of surviving buildings, the production of architectural drawings, 3D scanning, and oral history interviews.
In Tokyo, the study focused on clarifying the process by which repatriates created residential districts by combining rows of wooden tenement houses with charcoal-fueled buses. In Gifu, attention was given to the formation of wooden tenement clusters by repatriates that later developed into the textile wholesalers’ district in front of Gifu Station.
The results of this research are scheduled to be presented in scholarly articles through the City Planning Institute of Japan and the Architectural Institute of Japan, as well as in an exhibition.