Ginza ("Silver Seat") takes its name after the silver mint that the Edo government founded in the early 17th century near this section of the city. It looked nothing like this print at that time. The modern Ginza district emerged from the experiment in western-style building that became known as "Bricktown." The Ginza fire of 1872 leveled the old Ginza and as a result, the new Meiji government contracted the English architect Thomas Waters to rebuild it entirely in brick. It was completed in 1875, but it took several more years for Tokyoites to get used to living in stuffy, mildew-prone buildings ill-suited to the Japanese climate. As one writer has put it, "everyone wanted to look at it, but not many wanted to live in it." While shops took root on the main street front and provided early Tokyo with a modern cosmopolitian facade, the back streets were often vacant or temporary home to sideshows and transients in its early years. Some sections even reverted back to more traditional architectural forms. None of the original Bricktown exists today.
