Near one of the main streets in Takayama, and down an alley just a little bit is a building label 史料館, which, when translated, means Historical Records Office, or Archives Office.
The signs clearly say this, but there's plenty of other text to digest. I'm looking at the sign on the right side of the image just next to the one with the Japanese flags.
帝国陸海軍 / ていこく りくかいぐん / Imperial Army and Navy
靖国神社 / やすくに じんじゃ / Yasukuni Shrine
遺骨収集 / いこつしゅうしゅう / recovering the remains of soldiers
零戦座席 / ぜろせん ざせき / Zero Fighter ..seat? (not pilot?)
予科練 / よかれん / Yokaren (short for "Naval Aviator Preparatory Course Trainee"?)
銃後 / じゅうご / The Homefront (I guess..)
陸海空自衛隊 / りくかいくう じえいたい / (Land, Sea, Air) Self-Defense Force
The sign to the left of the door reenforces the above, but only with the Imperial Army & Navy, Yasukuni Shrine, Recovering Soldiers, and the Self-Defense Force. I'm not really sure why they emitted the Zero Fighters and Kamikaze pilots from that sign.
The sign just right of the door says the following:
まつり協賛 / まつり きょうさん / Festival Support
木製落下タンク / もくせい らっか タンク / "Wooden" + "Drop / Fall Down" + "Tank"
I think this is referring to the wooden donation box just inside the door
高山 nantoka.. 飛騨 nantoka.. / This is probably just the neighborhood they represent
So, it just says that there's a donation box inside if you want to support our neighborhood for the Festival.
But! More than that, inside is plenty of war memorabilia the owners have collected. I'm sure most of which was owned by the people in this neighborhood of Takayama.
Above is a wall dedicated to some Navel officers, and some Zero Fighter pilots. The Zero fighter pilots are pretty easy to recognize. They have the big puffy jackets and the white scarfs.
Later in the war, the Zero Fighter plane became more infamous as being used in Kamikaze attacks.
In the back of the room, sat some elderly gentlemen who were most likely war vets, and the proprietors of the majority of items in the office. They were just watching TV. I'm sure if I could actually speak the language, I could get some more interesting information from them.
On the way out, I dumped some change in the donation box, and said, "ありがとうございます。" as I left. One of the elderly dudes yelled out, "Thank you." :)