Fujita Museum

This guide to the Fujita Museum in Osaka tells how a stone storehouse survived the 1945 firebombing that destroyed the mansion around it, preserving one of Japan's great private art collections. It follows Fujita Denzaburo, a samurai's son turned business baron, who began buying up Buddhist sculpture, calligraphy and tea bowls as Meiji-era temples sold off centuries-old treasures. Among the pieces he saved is a scroll said to preserve the diary of Murasaki Shikibu. Look for the squat storehouse itself, built simply to keep the collection safe from fire.