This photograph displays Tokyo’s most popular transportation modes during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), horse drawn streetcars and jinrikisha (rickshaws). A small family is stepping out of the streetcar, most probably on their way to visit the new Ueno Park, a favorite attraction during this period.

In the late Edo period (1603-1868), Yanagibashi, nearby the Ryogoku bridge, was Tokyo’s main geisha district. The advent of the Meiji era (1868-1912), however, brought a new elite, more focused on money and power, who showed little interest in the traditional values of Yanagibashi. They favored the geisha quarter of Shinbashi (also Shimbashi). It was situated close to the new government and office buildings that were springing up like mushrooms, neighboring the rebuilt and thriving Ginza, and lay right on the doorstep of Tokyo’s main train station, Shinbashi station, opened in October of 1872 (Meiji 5).

A furniture store in Kyoto in May 1934. Notice the tricycles and prams. Both are articles that you would not expect at a furniture store. The classical street lamp is a wonderful work of art. Another interesting aspect are the many chairs on display. Western influences have clearly already deeply penetrated the Japanese lifestyle in the early 1930s, only some 80 years after Commodore Perry forced Japan to open up to the world in July, 1853.