Neil Duckett

A Photo Blog of Japan in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods.

I had an email a few weeks ago from Kjeld letting me know that his site is “A multilingual photoblog with daily uploads of rare photographs and postcards of Japan between 1860 and the 1930’s. ” which sounded interesting enough but due to a busy few days i was unable to get over and have a look.

Finally early this week i visited his site and with myself having taken on a, predominantly photo based, tour of the 29 stops on the JR Yamanote Line i found these old photos of Japan extremely interesting and quite a contrast to the Japan we all see today.

“In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.”  Kjeld Duits

If you’re not sure where a lot of the locations are then why not checkout a Map Of Japan

Here’s an example of what i’m talking about, this is Shinbashi Bridge Ginza and it was taken between 1882 and 1899.

All the photos are available for licensing which is where Kjeld is hoping to turn a few bucks but as far as visiting the site and checking out the photos of Japan from years gone by it’s free and well worth a look - Old Photos Of Japan

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