The Defense Ministry showed a wartime underground vault to the media Monday that was built by the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army under the ministry compound in Ichigaya, Tokyo.

During the war, the vault was constructed under a building housing the Army Department of the Imperial headquarters and other key army installations. The ceiling is about four meters high, and the temperature inside was significantly low compared with the brazing sun outside.

Part of the underground vault was buried in 2000 during the transfer of the Defense Ministry to the current location from Roppongi.