SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted May 17, 2009 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted May 17, 2009 Yesterday a good friend of mine in Yuzawa showed me some old photos from Yuzawa before it was all built up. Unfortunately we don't have any specific dates for these photos, and they are certainly mixed up from a number of different times, but some of them are going quite a way back when the main Yuzawa station was tiny and there was no Route 17. It certainly looked quite different without the shinkansen station and mansion tower blocks. Anyway, I found them to be very interesting and my friend said it was ok to share so here they are. That's Echiho Yuzawa station there centre bottom, looking towards what is now Gala Yuzawa and Ishiuchi Maruyama. Looking down on Yuzawa from where Gala Yuzawa is now. Echigo Yuzawa Station This is the east exit of the station, where the bus/taxi area is now Nunoba (basically near what is now the centre of town) looking over towards Tsuchitaru/Iwappara 'Taxis' at the station. There's a sign for Kandatsu Skijo, but that is not the Kandatsu we know - it was a very small area called Jodaira (close to Sporea Yuzawa, just above where the shinkansen tunnel is now) Looking south towards the station area. To the right is where Nunoba and the Yuzawa Kogen Ropeway is now. Nunoba Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 wow they are cool. Its changed only a little over the years I see!! Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 interesting to compare then and now, but it looks like some things never change...whenever you go somewhere in Japan it feels like you're always with half the country. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted May 17, 2009 Author SnowJapan Admin Share Posted May 17, 2009 Both of the next two photos were labelled 駅通り so it looks like it is the road on the east side of the station (looking towards the station on these photos) - the road going down from the station to Route 17. This one is from 81 years ago: ...and more recent (Yamakiya, bottom left corner, is still there): Just to compare that top photo with modern Yuzawa: Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Love seeing things like that. Looks like it was just a tiny village. Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 great to see the photos. hazard a guess from looking at the town, cars and fashion - 1962 Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I don't know the place well but very interesting to see the old pics. Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Pow 52 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Originally Posted By: SJ#1 Just to compare that top photo with modern Yuzawa: Must have been great to ski the 'old' Yuzawa without all the tree cover Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Nice photos. And good point MikePow - hadn't noticed that! Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 My guess would be that the mountains were stripped bare during the war. The new green all looks dark enough for conifers, so they'll have been planted, quite possibly with subsidies, in the post-war period. Some very Western-looking buildings there for 1928. Was Yuzawa a market town or on a trade route? I don't think you'd get something like that in ordinary inaka at the beginning of Showa. The train line is single track though. Not many steep roofs on view for "snow country", even back in the day. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Very interesting. Wasn't it the main "minkuni-kaido" route that goes up through Mitsumata > Naeba > Gunma? Link to post Share on other sites
Myoko Guy 0 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 The old main route to Echigo (what is now mostly Niigata-ken) was through what is now Myoko and Joetsu but (I think) the train tunnel opened up a new faster route for the transport of goods and people through Yuzawa. Nice pics too. Thanks SJ1 Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Interesting to see the first roads and buildings in the town. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Anyone know what kind of cars they were? Link to post Share on other sites
Jynxx 4 Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 I see Datsun 1000. and Corona. and Crown. some of the cars in that era was of Italian design. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Interesting what you say there Mr Wiggles. I'll ask some friends if they know anything about that next time I meet them. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 There were deffo subsidies post-war to plant the main conifers, i.e., sugi, hinoki, karamatsu, and akamatsu, for timber for Japan's reconstruction. Alas, the timber market was deregulated in the 1960s, cheap imports flooded in, and lumber demand collapsed. That's why there are lots of unmaintained (unthinned, overcrowded) conifer forests everywhere. Hardwood firewood and charcoal were Japan's main source of heat until the 1950s. Demand for that declined sharply from then on due to imported kero, with some mixed forests being initially replaced with more conifers. Up to that point, both types of trees were extensively grown and carefully managed. Trees may mean nothing to people now, but they certainly didn't back then. In that photo, I don't understand why a largely self-sufficient town in a cold area would leave the foothills bare or clear cut the lot and leave nothing for the future. It suggests some kind of major change or upheaval. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted May 20, 2009 Author SnowJapan Admin Share Posted May 20, 2009 Yes interesting points there. I'll ask next time as well (though I'm not in Yuzawa for a while now). Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I was going to ask the reason behind stipping it bare as well... Link to post Share on other sites
Rag-Doll 0 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Great photos. Some of them would have been taken around the time Yukiguni was being written - an altogether different world. Link to post Share on other sites
Ezorisu 0 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads Anyone know what kind of cars they were? In the first picture with cars (station east exit), the car on the extreme right foreground is a second-generation Nissan/Datsun Bluebird (1963-1965). I’m curious to see what kind of car that is behind the ladies talking on the street… In the second picture with cars (Yamakiya), the little white car parked next to Yamakiya could be either a first-genereation Toyota Corolla Sprinter or a Mazda 1000 (Hmm... could it be a Nissan Cherry?). The car with the four round headlamps on the right side of the street is most likely a first-generation Mazda Luce (1965-1971). This picture is a later timeframe than the ekimae one. I'm sure some old car otaku could tell you more... Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 just for better reference Link to post Share on other sites
echineko 1 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Very interesting. My parents over new year showed me some photos of our hometown from a long time ago, it had changed so much. It looked like a completely different place, the only thing the same was mountain. Link to post Share on other sites
minus 1 Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Going back over old photos is always interesting. Did the same back home the other year. I am the spitting image of my dad when he was my age. Makes me worry about myself when I get to his! Link to post Share on other sites
Hotaka Scott 0 Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads Love seeing things like that. x2 Were there no lifts at that time? Was good to see a few "tele" skiers though. Or were they all teles?? Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts