Billboard/Signboard Architecture in Tokyo from Late 1920s

After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Japanese shops underwent a transformation, embracing innovative designs that facilitated the coexistence of living spaces and businesses within traditional wooden houses. Typically, these shops featured a distinctive flat facade facing the street, adorned with elaborate designs, where the owner's shop or business operated on the ground floor. This unique architectural style, characterized by a sophisticated Western-style front facade concealing a conventional, traditional house structure behind the shop, came to be known as "kanban kenchiku" (看板建築), commonly referred to as billboard architecture or signboard architecture.