Another piece on koban after a while.
The koban that covers Palaceside Building in Takebashi is Kudanshita Koban of Kojimachi Police Station. There used to be a Takebashi Koban at the west parking exit of Palaceside Building, but after consolidation it became the unmanned Takebashi Community Safety Center — as this blog noted on January 18.
When did they come to be called koban? In 1874 (Meiji 7), the Tokyo Metropolitan Police was established and officers were posted at "kobansho" around the city. The word meant a "place" where officers went from the station (then called a tonsho) in "rotation" to stand "watch" — ko (relief) + ban (watch) + sho (place). From 1881 the official name was "hashutsusho," but many people still said "kobansho," shortened to "koban," and the two names mixed for more than a hundred years. In 1994 a legal change replaced "hashutsusho" with "koban," and the name became official in both law and speech.
Incidentally, the man who laid the foundations of Japan's police was Kawaji Toshiyoshi, who became the first Dai-Keishi (later Superintendent-General) when the Metropolitan Police was born — photo. From Satsuma, Kawaji was expected at the time of the Satsuma Rebellion (Meiji 10) to leave office and follow his hometown hero Saigo Takamori, yet he stayed, saying, "In private feeling it is hard to bear, but the work of state administration cannot rest even one day." He even sent spies into Satsuma to gather information, and some say he plotted to assassinate Saigo.
In Kagoshima, "Segodon" (Saigo-san) is still overwhelmingly loved, and neither Okubo Toshimichi, who opposed Saigo, nor Kawaji enjoys much popularity.