It’s easy to fall for stereotypes when you’re thinking about Imperial Japan, especially when the Internet offers plenty of dreamy, romanticized, hand colored photos of geishas, samurais, craftsmen, and peasants, all wearing traditional clothes and posing in medieval scenes. This set of color postcards, all issued in the first decades of the 20th century, show a different pre-war Japan.
The signs of technological progress are everywhere: overhead power, telegraph or telephone lines, utility poles with multiple arms, trolley cars, steam boats, huge cranes, steel bridges, factories, and modern office buildings are all part of Japan’s cityscapes. And the visual effect of these colored postcards make me feel like I might understand where the best Japanese anime movies have their roots. See for yourself if you can imagine any famous Miyazaki characters in the postcards below.
Near Nagasaki station
Source: New York Public Library
A view of Minamitenma-cho (Great Tokyo)
Source: New York Public Library
Nippon Bank at Tokyo
Source: New York Public Library
Sponsored
Shijo Bridge, Kyoto
Source: New York Public Library
Sakaemachi-dori at Nagaya [i.e., Nagoya]
Source: New York Public Library
Yokohama Station
Source: New York Public Library
The No. 3, Mitsubishi dock-yard, Nagasaki
Source: New York Public Library
Nagasaki Harbour
Source: New York Public Library
Big crane of Mitsubishi dockyard, Nagasaki
Source: New York Public Library
Commercial street in Nagasaki
Source: New York Public Library
Motomachi-dori Itchome, Kobe
Source: New York Public Library
America Hatoba (pier) Kobe
Source: New York Public Library
Nihonbashi dori Tokyo
Source: New York Public Library
Temma Bridge, Osaka
Source: New York Public Library
Birds ege [i.e., bird’s eye] view of Kobe
Source: New York Public Library
Motomachi-dori Itchome, Kobe
Source: New York Public Library
Gantry crane at Nagasaki dockyard
Source: New York Public Library
Lantern makers, Japan
Source: New York Public Library
Ujigawa (River) Osaka
Source: New York Public Library
Do you like the top image featuring Chihiro Ogino? Here are two more scenes that came to my mind:
