Showa Retro Packaging Museum, Retro packaging museum in Sumiechō, Japan.
The Showa Retro Packaging Museum displays product packaging from 1955 to 1965, including candy wrappers, medicine boxes, and tobacco containers. The collection fills multiple rooms and shows you how everyday items were designed and labeled during that period.
The museum opened in 1999 inside a former furniture shop built in the 1920s. The building itself was recognized and protected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a structure of historical value.
The displays show how packaging design reflected what people wanted to buy during the Showa era. You can see how daily tastes appeared through colorful and practical wrapper designs.
The museum is open Friday through Sunday and sits four minutes on foot from Ome Station. Plan to spend about two to three hours looking through all the exhibits.
The second floor displays works by movie billboard artist Bankan Kubo, offering a different artistic view of that era. The gallery also features rare exhibition pieces related to the Snow Woman legend from Koizumi Yakumo's classic story.
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