The Meiji era was a time when technology improved drastically and people’s lives changed forever.

One example of this is telegraph communication, which was such a novel concept to people in those days they had no idea how to use it. Do you literally place your letter on top of the wire and it sends it to the recipient? Apparently, that’s what some people tried to do back then. To us that sounds crazy, but to people back then it made more sense than sending an invisible message through wires. Needless to say, it took some time to adapt.

The building was erected in 1918 as the Telecommunications Division Building for the former Ministry of Communications’ Moji Post Office. It now serves as a museum where you can see and even try using an old-fashioned switchboard, the communication technology that came after the telegraph. So put down your smartphones for a minute and travel back in time.

※Moji Telecommunication Museum is managed and operated by NTT West.