A small section of Ome city, near Ome station, is nicknamed a Showa Retro town. You can't miss it with the colorful large hand painted movie billboards marking the spot. There are two very small Showa museums in the area. There used to be a third museum, and it was the most popular of the three, dedicated to Tensai Bakabon and the work of Fujio Akatsuka. Regrettably, it closed its doors permanently earlier this year.
Ome Billboards
The Showa period was between 1926 and 1989. For some of that period, Ome had three independent cinemas. A local man, who went by the name of Bankan, hand painted hundreds of billboards over the years for the cinemas. Years later, after the Showa era had ended, he was asked to paint more billboards, this time to advertise the shops in an effort to increase tourism in the area. There are supposedly more than 100 billboards in the Ome Showa Town.
Ome Showa Town
The Showa Goods Retro Museum has a "Breakfast at Tiffany's" hand painted billboard out front. There are several hand painted billboards of both Japanese and foreign movies in the area. The bus stop by the Showa Goods Retro Museum very cleverly brandishes a billboard from the 1956 movie "Bus Stop" with Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. Apart from movie depictions, there are also billboards from popular TV programs such as Mito Komon. Several household and daily goods from the period are displayed. Since I came to Japan in 2000, the public phones have always been green, but in the museum you can see that they were once red. They have paraphernalia from overseas, not just things made in or unique to Japan.
Across the road from the Showa Retro Goods Museum is an even smaller museum, the Showa Gento Kan. It showcases diorama from the Showa period, all of which have miniature cat people in them. To be honest, you could be in and out of Showa Gento Kan in five minutes, but coupled with a visit to the retro museum and / or touring the billboards of the town offers a glimpse of Showa period life. You can pick up a map with the billboard's locations at the station.
Getting there
By public transport: The area is located close to Ome Line's Ome station.
By car: The nearest interchange is the Ome Interchange on the Ken-o expressway. There is no official parking, but you can get discounted parking at a car park west of the Showa Retro Goods Museum. There is a more convenient car park opposite the museum, but there is no discount for this car park.
