Lost and Found In Kuramae

A Chance Encounter With My Childhood Employer in Eastern Tokyo

The Epoch Toy Company Building in Kuramae. The Sign Reads, “We kindly ask members of the general public to refrain from entering the premises”.

Last week I was walking around Kuramae, a district in eastern Tokyo bounded by the Sumida River. I had never heard of Kuramae before renting an apartment in Taito, just south of it. My Taito neighborhood was bori…