FUKUOKA -- An electronics store set to relocate within this southwestern Japan city recently gave customers a nostalgic glimpse of 1994 as it opened a time capsule from its old building filled with magazines, newspapers, telephone cards and other mementos from the era.

The Best Denki Fukuoka main store in the Tenjin downtown area of Fukuoka's Chuo Ward marked its final day of business on Feb. 15 due to redevelopment of the building. When the consumer electronics store was constructed in 1994, a capsule containing keepsakes from the time was placed inside a cornerstone. These items had been retrieved ahead of the closure and were put on display, stirring the memories of customers and employees.

The building, located in front of Fukuoka City Hall, is known as the "Best Denki Fukuoka store and Misuzuan joint building." The time capsule revealed employee uniforms, company newsletters, commemorative telephone cards from the store's opening, as well as a variety of items reflecting the era, including magazines, newspapers and movie pamphlets.

Among the magazines were the "Shufu no Tomo" monthly women's magazine, "Shukan Asahi" weekly magazine, and "MORE" fashion magazine, all of which are now discontinued. Newspapers from that time reported on the dissolution of the Japan New Party led by Morihiro Hosokawa.

Store manager Satoshi Ishioka said the items "bring back memories for veteran employees, while younger employees are unfamiliar with most of them." Regular customers and former employees also visited the store, sharing memories and lively conversations. The Outlet Hakata store in the Chiyo district of the city's Hakata Ward will become the new Fukuoka Main Store, which is scheduled to reopen this spring after renovations.

(Japanese original by Masanori Hirakawa, Kyushu News Department)