Meiji Village Police Museum 明治村警察資料館（旧登米警察署庁舎）

Official explanation

The former Tome Police Station building, constructed in 1889, was operational for 79 years. For much of this time, rural police administration and firefighting were integrated, so the building served as both a police station and a fire station. It was restored and opened to the public as a police museum in 1987, displaying historical items from both fields of service. The building was designated a Tangible Cultural Property of Miyagi Prefecture in 1988, and the 20-meter-high fire lookout tower, dating from 1926, became a designated Cultural Property of Miyagi Prefecture in 2015.

The police station was constructed by architect Yamazoe Kisaburō (1843–1923), who was known for using a blend of Japanese and Western styles. The two-story wooden structure features clapboard siding, white-painted roof tiles, carved pillars, and a balcony above the entrance. During the restoration process, foundations of an interrogation area and detention cell dating to the Meiji period (1868–1912) were discovered, so those spaces were reconstructed. Today, these reconstructed rooms provide rare examples of architecture used for law-enforcement facilities of that period.

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The exhibits offer insight into how public safety was maintained, the activities of Meiji-era criminals, and their run-ins with the law. Illustrations of local crimes, such as providing tattoos or hosting unregistered foreign guests, are displayed alongside police uniforms and sabers. In the foyer, visitors can pose for photographs on white police motorbikes or in a 1980s Nissan Skyline patrol car. There is also a small gift shop selling police-themed items.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.