This program, “Machi no Kioku wo Atsumeru, Kataru: Preserving, Collecting, and Sharing Hometown Memories” is a collection of photos and stories of Shiogama, focusing on the period from 1939 to 1945, when Jun Sugimura lived in Shiogama. The program collects photographs and memories of life in Shiogama, townscapes, festivals, railroad scenery, and the Chile Earthquake Tsunami taken by local residents.

Here we focus on people’s memories of “Chikko” (presently known as the Minatomachi area), the heart of the city and the center of Shiogama’s economic activities during the Showa period (1926-1989). When Minatomachi was called Chikko, the area around the port where the fish market and retail market were located was lined with food stalls and stores. At this time, freight lines also crossed the town to transport the fish immediately after they were brought in. For daily life and entertainment, there were many public bathhouses and movie theaters, and the port was full of life as sailors strolled the streets after landing their boats.

Jun Sugimura moved to Chikko because his relative was living in Shiogama at that time, and painted the scenery of the fish market and fishing boats. What did the people of that time see in Shiogama, with its unique mix of prosperity and chaos?

This exhibition focuses on oral accounts of Chikko, as told by the people who lived in and around the port. We hope that people’s good memories of Shiogama will not fade away, and that they will provoke visitors and residents to think about the future.