A military factory that was said to be the largest in the Orient was once in operation at a site now part of Osaka Castle Park at the center of the city of Osaka, and a researcher is calling for the remaining buildings to be preserved as a "negative legacy."
Osaka Army Arsenal, which manufactured artillery for the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army, employed up to around 66,000 people, including mobilized students, across its approximately 6-million-square-meter site.
Osaka Castle Park is lush with greenery and bustles daily with people enjoying jogging, as well as visitors from abroad. Next to Osaka Castle Hall in the park is a commemorative monument with an inscription reading "Army Arsenal site" and an explanatory plaque, but few people stop to look at it. A man who was out cycling said, "I vaguely knew the factory existed, but I didn't realize it was that big."
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