Studio 1890s
Japan's Mistresses of Fire
Two young Japanese women in a studio pose next to a hibachi. Women generally ruled this humble, but all-important heater.
Studio 1890s
Inside 1910s
Japan's Vanished Portable Fireplaces
A young woman plays the shamisen while seated next to a hibachi (火鉢), a portable charcoal brazier. The metal chopsticks are for handling the charcoal, burning on a thick insulating layer of ash.
Gifu 1936
The Art of the Japanese New Year Card
A stunning New Year card for Gifu’s Great Exhibition of Rapid Japanese Progress of 1936. During the 1900s–1930s, many Japanese New Year cards were designed by top artists who created a golden age of card design.
Spotlight
160 Year Old Photos of Shinjuku's Jūnisō Discovered
I discovered three extremely rare, unidentified, and unknown photos of Jūnisō from the 1860s. Read the story about this extraordinary find.
Spotlight
Jūnisō Pond Chronology
This visual chronology uses rare images to show how Nishi-Shinjuku’s Jūnisō Pond changed between the 1860s and 1960s. Maps display the viewpoints.
Inside 1944
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (7)
Tank production at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1944. The Japanese militarism of the 1930s and 1940s initially benefited geisha districts like Jūnisō’s. But in the end it blasted most into oblivion.