Qualla: Hayashi Department Store https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Hayashi Department Store https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store Hayashi Department Store: Introduction https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store/ Photo credit Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0. When Hayashi Department Store opened on December 5, 1932, it was one of only two buildings in all of Taiwan with a working elevator. That single fact tells you something about the ambitions of Japanese-era Tainan. The city was already ancient by the standards of its colonial rulers — the oldest urban center in Taiwan, with three centuries of Dutch, Ming, and Qing history layered beneath its streets. But the five-story building that Taiwanese locals quickly nicknamed the 'Five-story Building' announced that the city intended to be modern, too.

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Image: Suicasmo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/wsj6-hayashi-department-store-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Hayashi Department Store: The Most Modern Building in Town https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store/ Photo credit Seifer011130, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1932, a five-story department store with an elevator was a genuine novelty in Taiwan. Hayashi Department Store opened its doors in Tainan City, Tainan Prefecture, during the height of Japanese colonial investment in the island's commercial infrastructure. The store was named f...

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Image: Seifer011130 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/wsj6-hayashi-department-store-the-most-modern-building-in-town.mp3 0:06 2 full Hayashi Department Store: Fire from the Sky https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store/ Photo credit Mx. Granger, CC0. The building did not survive the war intact. In the final months of World War II, American aircraft bombed Tainan as part of the broader air campaign against Japanese-held Taiwan. The Hayashi Department Store was hit. Exactly how severely the building was damaged is part of the p...

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Image: Mx. Granger | CC0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/wsj6-hayashi-department-store-fire-from-the-sky.mp3 0:06 3 full Hayashi Department Store: The Long Restoration https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store/ Photo credit Taiwania Justo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Restoration work began in 2006, a years-long project of structural repair, historical research, and architectural reconstruction. The goal was not to turn the building into a museum of itself but to return it to something like its original function — a working commercial building...

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Image: Taiwania Justo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/wsj6-hayashi-department-store-the-long-restoration.mp3 0:06 4 full Hayashi Department Store: Five Floors of Then and Now https://qualla.com/hayashi-department-store/ Photo credit Knack, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today the Hayashi Department Store sells contemporary goods alongside curated displays of local culture. The top floor hosts exhibitions on local farming traditions and handicrafts — the agricultural heritage of the Tainan plain that existed long before department stores arrived....

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Image: Knack | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/hayashi-department-store-wp/wsj6-hayashi-department-store-five-floors-of-then-and-now.mp3 0:06 5 full