カテゴリー: Town

ー広い大学通りは飛行機の滑走路でした。大正時代の後半、箱根土地開発株式会社（現・国土計画）はこの国立の他にも、当時軽井沢の別荘地分譲を手掛けていて、そのお客様に対するサービスとして、国立と軽井沢を結んで一日一回、飛行時間30分の定期航空路を開いていました。使用する飛行機は、陸軍から払い下げてもらった単葉機。その飛行機は箱根土地開発本社（現在の多摩信用金庫国立支店）の裏においてあり、谷保の子供にとっては羨望の的でした。

ーDid you know that the wide and beautiful University Avenue (Daigaku-dori) was originally designed to double as an airplane runway?

In the late Taisho era, the innovative Hakone-Tochi Development Company was simultaneously developing the high-class resort area of Karuizawa, alongside this new town of Kunitachi. As a premium and futuristic service for their wealthy clients, the company launched a daily scheduled flight connecting Kunitachi and Karuizawa, cutting the travel time down to just a 30-minute flight!

The aircraft they used was a vintage monoplane decommissioned and purchased from the Imperial Japanese Army. When it wasn’t soaring through the skies, the airplane was parked right behind the Hakone-Tochi headquarters (where the Kunitachi branch of the Tama Shinkin Bank stands today). For the local children of Yaho, this real-life flying machine parked right in their neighborhood was the ultimate object of envy and wonder. 

ー赤いかわらのトンガリ屋根、ベージュ色の壁に設けられた大きな明かり窓。大正15年4月に開業した当時、東京でも1、2を誇るモダンな駅舎でした。箱根土地開発（現　国土計画）がこの駅舎をふくめこの地を宅地開発し、当時の一区画200坪で分譲されました。野外音楽堂も造られ、週末にはクラシックの演奏会などが催される学園都市が出現しました。開業当時「だれが乗るやら降りるやら」と新聞に書かれた田舎駅も、今では一橋大学や桐朋学園の学生たちを含めて一日10万人以上利用するようになりました。

ーWith its iconic pointed red-tiled roof and a large, elegant skylight set into beige walls, the original Kunitachi Station was a architectural marvel. When it first opened its doors in April 1926, it proudly stood as one of the most stylish and modern railway stations in all of Tokyo.

The area was developed by the Hakone-Tochi Development Company, which divided the land into generous residential lots of about 660 square meters (200 tsubo) per family. They even built an outdoor music hall where classical concerts echoed on weekends, giving birth to a high-class, European-style university town.

In its earliest days, surrounded by quiet fields, a local newspaper jokingly mocked the remote station, writing: “Kunitachi Station—who on earth will ever get on or off here?”

Today, that cynical joke has been completely rewritten. Fueled by the vibrant energy of students from the prestigious Hitotsubashi University and Toho Gakuen, this once-lonely country station has blossomed into a bustling landmark, now serving over 100,000 passengers every single day.