Large Japanese Sake Cup with the Imperial Naval Museum / General MacArthur’s Allied Supreme Headquarters

The red lacquer wood sake cup has a top diameter of approximately 4-1/4 inches. Excellent condition. The cup was a gift that was presented by the Imperial Navy Museum in Tokyo which, after the war ended, became the Allied Supreme Headquarters in Japan. The Naval Museum (Kaigunkan) was a memorial museum for the Imperial Japanese Navy, formerly located in Harajuku, Tokyo. It also served as a social facility and was sometimes referred to as the Naval Officers’ Hall. The Naval Museum was built in 1937 (Showa 12) east of Togo Shrine in Harajuku, Tokyo, and housed and exhibited numerous naval-related documents and reference materials. The building was a stately Western-style building made of marble with a columned facade.  In May 1945 (Showa 20), toward the end of World War II (Greater East Asia War), the Naval Museum was damaged during the Great Tokyo Air Raid (Yamanote Air Raid) by the U.S. military, but escaped destruction. After Japan’s defeat in August of the same year, it was taken over by the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ). After the land and buildings were returned to Japan, the site became the site of the Japan College of Social Work, a university established by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Western-style building of the former Navy Hall served as the university’s facilities until 1988. The university relocated to Kiyose City in Tokyo the following year in 1989, and the former Navy Hall building was demolished in 1992. The former Navy Hall is currently located at its current address along Meiji Dori in Jingumae 1-chome, Shibuya-ku (its address when the Navy Hall existed was Harajuku 3-chome). After the Japan College of Social Work and Welfare relocated, a temporary Shibuya Post Office was temporarily located on the site, and the new Harajuku Police Station building was completed in 2009.