Stories: Omote Sando Dori by Larry Shumway
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Hi Wayne:
My two cents worth. It was interesting to read about peoples' experiences with the old Shibuya building. It had a fairly large property and a good sized mansion which, besides having an apartment for a caretaker, had several rooms spacious enough for all various church meetings and activities. I particularly remember the main hall which was used for Sunday afternoon rehearsals of the Tokyo LDS Gasshoudan (Choir) which was attended by members from all five branches. Besides good music it was a fine social occasion that gave members a chance to meet people from other branches. However, as I understand it, a dog racing operation (or betting parlor) was set up next door with all kinds of amplified announcements which was so noisy it made it nigh impossible to hold church meetings. I believe the West Branch meeting place was located somewhere west of the Yamate line on the chuuou line, maybe in Ogikubo. The West Branch area was rather far from the Omote-sando property which I don't think was ever really used by West Branch. The Omote-sandou church (again a large mansion with a fine Japanese garden) was a few blocks from the Harajuku station. Omote-sandou itself was a toney, high-end shopping district that included a number of foreign stores. These were patronized by foreigners as well as by wealthy Japanese, especially young people wanting to show off their clothes and foreign (mainly American) cars and motorcycles. It was where the first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet was located, introduced by the Colonel himself. No wonder the property fetched such a high price. But it was a nice church meeting place, quiet but convenient. Cheers, Larry Shumway |
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