I hereby give My Sanction to the Ordinance concerning the restriction of buildings in the war-damaged cities and cause the same to be promulgated.
Signed: HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor
This fourteenth day of the eighth month of the twenty-first year of Showa (August 14, 1946)
Countersigned: Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru
Imperial Ordinance No. 389
Article 1. The restriction of buildings provided for in Article 11 and Paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the City-planning Law and also in Article 25 of the City-area Building Law, applicable to war-damaged cities, towns and villages and also to the areas of Tokyo-to where the Ward system is being enforced, shall be subjected to the Ordinance notwithstanding the prescriptions of Article 11 and Paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the City-planning Law Enforcement Regulations (2) and also Paragraph 2 of Article 29 of the City-area Buildings Law Enforcement Regulation.
The aforesaid cities, towns and villages shall be designated by the Prime Minister.
Article 2. Within the limits of areas prescribed in Paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the City-planning Law, and those of parks, green or open space, and those for readjustment prescribed in Paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the same Law and those of projected roads prescribed in the City-area Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the City-area Building Law it is prohibited to construct, to remodel or to extend buildings except those that come under one of the following items;
1. That which is to be built as undertaking or as institution of City-plan.
2. That which is to be built within the limits of substituted area or projected area for substitution in the district where the readjustment of lots is being done or that which is to be built in the area which is recognized by the local governor as effecting no impediment to enforcing the readjustment.
3. That which is to be built by permission of local governor for the purpose of utilizing institution of City-plan or under necessity of other purposes.
Article 3. In case that local governor admits of no hindrance to execution of City-plan he may grant a permission, notwithstanding the stipulations of the preceding Article, for construction of temporary building, in so far as the following conditions are fulfilled:
1. The number of stories of the building shall not exceed two (if a roof-floor is provided it shall be counted in the number of stories).
2. The building shall be constructed so as to be easily removed or cleared away.
3. The building shall have floor-space not exceeding 100 square metres of one separate-building (including floor-space of former building when an extension is made).
4. The proportion of construction space to the plot of ground for the building (construction space of former building to be counted in when an extension is made) shall not exceed 5 against 10 in the business quarters, and it shall not exceed 3 against 10 in the other quarters, (if the building stands over the business quarters and the others, the proportion shall not exceed 3 against 10).
In case that the local governor deems it necessary considering the purpose of the building or according to circumstances of the locality or for the benefit of the public, he may not apply the stipulations of the aforementioned items No. 3 and No. 4.
Article 4. In case that the local governor deems it necessary for enforcing the city-plan, he may fix the period of maintenance of buildings when he grants permission for construction in accordance with the stipulation of Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article, for the buildings as mentioned below:
1. That which is to be built in the area of land as stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 16 of the City-Planning Law, (except the area readjusted).
2. That which is not subjected to the application of Paragraph 1, No. 3 and No. 4.
3. That which is specified by the local governor.
Article 5. The local governor may order a recovery of original state, to a person who has violated the stipulation of Article 2.
The local governor may order an elimination of buildings in case any of them which were fixed with the period of maintenance, still remain existing after the termination of the period.
Supplementary Provisions:
The present Ordinance shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.
The building under construction at the time of promulgation of this Ordinance shall be exempted from the application of Article 2 and 3 provided that it obtains an approval of the local governor within two weeks of the day of its promulgation. The same exception is also available for the building under construction which comes to be governed newly by this Ordinance as a result of designation stipulated in Article 1, Paragraph 2 or of decision made for city-plan or for city-plan work.