The Meiji Emperor made 14 trips to the stadium to view horse racing . The grandstands was one of the few structures to survive the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 . It was later rebuilt by American J. H. Morgan and still stands today . The new stands could hold up to 20,000 spectators , and Emperor Hirohito was known to frequent the events held in Negishi . Horse racing at Negishi was ended in 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Navy took over the site and the racing grounds at Negishi were used for the operation of a printing press and , in the lower horse stables , the housing of Australian prisoners of war . In 1945 , when General MacArthur discovered the printing presses during the occupation of Japan , the U.S. Army used the presses to print over 450,000 surrender documents in English , Japanese , and Korean to be distributed across the country
Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
Naval Housing Annex Negishi