Farewell IJsbrand Rogge (1929–2024)
Dutch photographer who was active in Japan during the 1950s, 1960s
Yesterday I got some sad news.
On my image archive site MeijiShowa I do not only share images from my own collection, but also from a few other collections. One of these collections is the Brinckmann-Rogge Collection, which features 55 photographs that Dutch photographer IJsbrand Rogge shot in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s.
IJsbrand was the only photographer on MeijiShowa who was still alive. Yesterday, my friend Hans Brinckmann informed me that IJsbrand had passed away on January 26.
IJsbrand was born in Amsterdam. He arrived in Japan in 1955 where he worked for a Dutch bank and became close friends with Hans. Around 1959–1960, the two filmed a short documentary about how Japan was changing after the end of WWII.
Hans stayed in the banking business, but IJsbrand decided to become a photographer and filmmaker.
IJsbrand's photographs of Japan show wonderful everyday scenes from young boys reading manga at the local bookstore, to kindergarten kids exercising, to Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma at a rally in Tokyo. Asanuma was later assassinated by a nationalist.
IJsbrand was 94.
See all of IJsbrand Rogge’s photographs at MeijiShowa.
Read IJsbrand’s entry on Wikipedia.
Ah if memory serves the killing of Asanuma was caught on film. I remember seeing this. Just vicious.