The huge, unusually shaped structure that supported the town: Former Nogata Water Tower

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This article introduces the "Old Nogata Water Tower," which was completed in 1929 and boasts a long history. This huge structure is too large to fit in a photo, and it has been recreated in a home!

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Hello. I'm Yoshio, a Nakano Tourism Reporter. Have you ever looked up at the sky and been surprised by the size of a structure that came into view?

About a 15-minute walk from Shin-Ekoda Station on Tokyo's Toei Oedo Line, walking through a residential area just before Tetsugakudo Park, the "Old Nogata Water Tower" suddenly appears.

It is a huge white-walled building with a dome-shaped roof, giving it a somewhat retro and imposing presence.

It was completed in 1929. It is made of reinforced concrete, 33.6m high and 18m in diameter at the base. It can store about 2,000 tons of water for daily use, and is a cultural heritage that supported the lives of Nakano Ward and the surrounding area until 1966, surviving war damage.

Although it no longer serves as a disaster water supply tank, it is still a fine structure that was designated a nationally registered tangible cultural property (2010) and a Nakano Ward certified tourist resource (2014).

The area at its base is maintained as Mizunotou Park, and on weekdays I'm sure children from the nearby nursery school are running around there (although it was quiet when I visited on a Saturday).

But it's really big. An otherworldly structure that appears in the middle of a residential area. It has the kind of atmosphere that would make it seem like there would be a legendary warrior there who could bestow some secret art on you if you were to go inside.

Due to its enormous size, it is unfortunate that only a small part of it can be photographed from the foot, but you can see the whole view on the Nakano Ward website. For more information on the former Nogata water tower, please see this page.

It has a beautiful shape even when viewed from a distance. It's a shame that I can't fully convey this in my own photos, so I ran to the nearest 100-yen shop to buy the materials and recreate it in miniature.

By combining plastic bowls, trash cans, thermometers, etc.

By doing this, perhaps we can recreate about 2% of the splendor of the old Nogata water tower?

An easy-to-make miniature of the old Nogata water tower. Why not try making one at home?

Former Nogata Water Tower

Location: Mizunotou Park, 1-3 Ekoda, Nakano-ku

Access: 15 minutes on foot from Araiyakushimae Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line

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Nakano city is located in the western part of Tokyo's 23 wards. It is especially famous for Nakano Broadway, known as the "holy land" of subculture, but it also has many other tourist attractions such as historic shrines and temples and gourmet food. While the area around Nakano Station is undergoing a "once in a century" redevelopment, the town is undergoing change, and the town is bustling with old-fashioned, friendly shopping streets, making Nakano a very diverse city. This diversity is also what makes it a city with a population of about 17,000 people from about 120 countries.

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