Read this article on the site | Comment on this article “If we didn’t all smoke a pipe, if it were not for tobacco, we would never get along together…

February 2023

A Japanese farmer holds a kiseru (煙管). The tiny pipe offered only two to three puffs, yet it reigned for over three centuries.

December 2022

A woman paints the face of a boy who lost in the card game of karuta. Photographer Teijiro Takagi shot this scene in Kobe in 1906 for a photo book about…

November 2022

A rare early photograph of Dejima, the fan-shaped artificial island in Nagasaki. Dejima played a critical—but now largely forgotten—role in the opening…

August 2022

A studio photo of maiko posing in front of the portable street stand of a singing insect vendor. Vendors sold a variety of insects changing with each…

July 2022

A Japanese bride arrives at the groom’s house. Photographer Teijiro Takagi published this scene in 1905 (Meiji 38) in a photo book about Japanese…

June 2022

A Japanese family poses stoically to “celebrate” a male family member being sent off to war during the late 1930s, or early 1940s. The banners bear his…

May 2022

The game that these two young women are playing was once the most popular game in Japan, known by all. Now few people have even heard of its name.
A small geta and zori shop. The shopkeeper is working on a geta while a customer is looking on. Shops like these were once everywhere in Japan.
The rickshaw’s story is one of promise, romance, and pain. Did you know that the rickshaw contributed to Japan driving on the left side of the road?

April 2022

Japan’s bathing culture is considered quintessentially Japanese. No guide book of Japan is complete without instructions on how to take a bath. A short…
I almost sold this print because it seemed insignificant. Thankfully, a book by Dutch historian Herman J. Moeshart helped me realize it is an extremely…