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Kjeld Duits

Kjeld Duits was born in the Netherlands and has lived in Japan since 1982 (Showa 57). He is the founder of DUITS, a boutique journalism and stock photography agency in Tokyo. Duits has been collecting and researching vintage photographs since 2007 and has worked with museums, documentary makers, publishers, government agencies and other organizations worldwide.

Japanese charcoal dealer, 1930s

Outside 1930s
How Japan Kept the Fire Burning

Two Western men are drinking Japanese tea while sitting close to hibachi, 1890s

Inside 1896
Forgotten Shapes of Warmth

Two Japanese women sitting next to a hibachi brazier, 1890s

Studio 1890s
Japan's Mistresses of Fire

A Japanese woman plays the shamisen while seated next to a hibachi

Inside 1910s
Japan's Vanished Portable Fireplaces

Advertising postcard for the Great Exhibition of Rapid Japanese Progress in Gifu in 1936

Gifu 1936
The Art of the Japanese New Year Card

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.

Tank production at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1944

Inside 1944
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (7)

Streetcars and cars on Shinjuku Ō-Dōri in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, 1920s

Tokyo 1920s
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (6)

Jūnisō Pond in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1905

Tokyo 1905/1906
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (5)

Painting by Robert William Arthur Rouse of a teahouse at Jūnisō Pond around the 1890s

Tokyo 1890s
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (4)

Lithograph of teahouses at Jūnisō Pond near Edo (Tokyo), 1860

Tokyo 1860
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (3)

Cherry blossom along the Tamagawa Jōsui in Koganei, ca. 1890s

Tokyo 1890s
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (2)

Boats at the Jūnisō pond in Shinjuku, Tokyo, 1910s.

Tokyo 1910s
Shinjuku’s Lost Paradise (1)

Albumen print by Michael Moser of the Nihonbashi Bridge in Tokyo, published in The Far East Magazine in 1871

Tokyo 1871
Birth of a Nation

Albumen print by Felice Beato of the Bund in Kobe after the typhoon of July 1871

Kobe 1871
Battling Japan's Typhoons

Albumen print by Kimbei Kusakabe of the Nakasendo Highway, 1880s

Nagano 1880s
Nakasendō Highway

Albumen print of the Kawaibashi Bridge on the Tokaido, ca. 1880s

Shizuoka 1880s
Bridge on the Tōkaidō

Engraving of Japanese porters carrying travelers across a wide river, 1860s

Shizuoka 1860s
Piggybacking the Tōkaidō's Mightiest Rivers

Photo by Felice Beato of the Tokaido ferry across the Rokugogawa River at Kawasaki, 1870s

Kawasaki 1870s
Crossing Japan's 'Raging Rivers'

spotlight
Minka Floor Plan

Rediscovering Japan’s Irori shows a floor plan of a minka. Here are photos of that minka, a documentary, recommended books, and museums with minka.

Illustrations of a Japanese irori (firepit) by American scholar Edward S. Morse, 1885

Inside 1880s
Rediscovering Japan's Irori

A Japanese farmer’s family around the irori

Inside 1900s
Staying Warm in (C)Old Japan

Coal barges, boats with harbor workers, and a steam launch at Kobe Harbor, ca. 1900s

Kobe 1900s
Human Conveyor Belt (4)

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