Yokohama 1904–1905
Horses at War
Imperial Japanese troops loading horses at Yokohama Port during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). Japan deployed some 223,000 horses during the conflict.
Yokohama 1904–1905
Kobe 1870s
View on Kobe from Mt. Takatori
A beautiful view of a yet very rural Kobe from Mount Takatori (高取山) in the early 1870s. Very soon after the city was opened to foreign trade on January 1, 1868 (Keiō 4). This is Kobe in the cradle.
Yokohama 1920s
Grandeur at the Grand
Japanese waitresses in kimono stand ready for the tea service in the lounge of Yokohama’s celebrated Grand Hotel, sometime between 1918 and its destruction by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
1880s
Japanese Firefighting
A Japanese firefighting crew (火消組, hikeshigumi) and their tools of the trade. Fires that destroyed whole towns were a common occurrence in old Japan. Over the centuries, countless methods were developed to fight them.
Tokyo 1930
Secrets of Green Tea
Do you drink green tea for its health benefits? You can thank Japanese biochemist Michiyo Tsujimura (辻村みちよ, 1888–1969), Japan’s first female doctor of agriculture, seen here at her research institute in Tokyo in 1930 (Showa 5).
1870s
Oiran Courtesan
An oiran (花魁, high class courtesan) of the yūkaku (遊郭, red light district) of Yoshiwara in Tokyo. Her kimono and hairstyle may be gorgeous, but her life could be harsh.