111–120 of 137 posts
https://www.taschen.com/en/books/photography/41412/japan-190...
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> This reminds me that we are all losing our unique and diverse cultures and humanity through the incessant drive of globalist world domination to force everyone to do and be the same We're actually creating new unique and diverse cultures by adopting and remixing parts of the various cultures we encounter. Just looking at photos from other cultures (as you have done today) is a part of that process. This is a good t…
I agree diversity makes us richer, and historically there was always cultural diffusion, what I lament though is that this is now partially done by multinational corporations, wiping out local traditions.
And it used to be partially done by empires, wiping out local traditions. And powerful warlords would do it, too. Monarchs, etc. Hard to say Western Europe doesn't look the way it does in large part because of this multicontinental, millennia-old institution called the Catholic Church!
Quite a few of those still exist! * Wysteria Vine. It is not written, but I am pretty sure it's Kameido Shrine. You need to come at the right time to see flowers like that though. * Nikko All pictures that show shrine and pagoda * Osaka Castle * Daibutsu, at Kamakura * Jinrikishia Now it's for tourists, but you can ride in Asakusa. * View Ojigoku on Great Boiling Springs, Hakone. * Wrestlers. Sumo still exists and lo…
> Now all houses look boring. Only recently people thought to build pretty houses again. When I visited Japan last year most of my pictures were of old "crummy" looking buildings and older homes. They had character vs the modern flat buildings popping up all over. I even snapped pictures of the overhead wiring, utility poles and building connections. I now understand the prevalence of overhead wires and utility poles…
> “People don’t draw it, all this crap, people don’t focus attention on it because it’s ugly, it’s bleak, it’s depressing,” he says, “The stuff is not created to be visually pleasing and you can’t remember exactly what it looks like. But, this is the world we live in; I wanted my work to reflect that, the background reality of urban life.”
https://time.com/3802766/r-crumbs-snapshots-source-material-...
I don't have a reference for it (it might be from the film "Crumb") but I remember him saying that people would rave about how he artistically exaggerated the proliferation of poles, signage, and overhead lines to create over-the-top dystopian images, when he was just copying backgrounds from photographs of suburban California.
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It's a staged photograph by Kimbei Kusakabe (or Baron Raimund von Stillfried, they sold each other's works a lot and Kusakabe worked for Stillfried at one point) of hikyaku (express couriers) created to sate Western desire for souvenirs of "real" Japan. They had long since disappeared by the time the photographs were taken, replaced with uniformed men on bicycles. In the past though, they ran express mail in relays w…
Thanks. Are the tattoos, the scanty clothing and the somewhat (to my eyes) effeminate appearance anything to do with being a courier? Or just something to titillate postcard buyers?
https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/882/19th-century-japan...
as well as the wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikyaku
I didn't see anything about tattoos or the eye makeup, but the loincloth definitely came up. That was their typical clothing, regardless of weather, although I find kind of hard to believe.
Maybe that wasn't universal, or the photographer convinced the women to show their smiles.
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Unfortunately those pretty houses come at a cost. Traditional materials and techniques usually come at a price. Lots of wood and joinery work needs to be done, much of it by hand. They are also not well insulated so hard to keep warm in winter. They're so pretty though!. You can still see a few of these houses and their traditional gardens in some of the wealthy, old-money smelling parts of Kyoto.
My next door neighbour lives in one of those thatched roof houses. I once visited in mid May, it was sweltering hot outside so I was in Tshirts and shorts. Inside, it was freezing! They had the kotatsu and a kerosene stove on.
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You’re really underplaying how awful the life was for an average person in before-times. Sure, pretty buildings, different cultures, and etc. were more prominent. But also an average person would never be able to enjoy those in their lifetimes.
I'm not buying this. All these claims rely on some nebulous "poor people" who were kept hidden away somewhere. There is no good reason to doubt that these photos show regular people, and the buildings they lived in.
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Thanks. Are the tattoos, the scanty clothing and the somewhat (to my eyes) effeminate appearance anything to do with being a courier? Or just something to titillate postcard buyers?
I was curious about this too and did some searching. Found this source https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/882/19th-century-japan... as well as the wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikyaku I didn't see anything about tattoos or the eye makeup, but the loincloth definitely came up. That was their typical clothing, regardless of weather, although I find kind of hard to believe.
I wonder how easy it is to run distances carrying a pole?
>I didn't see anything about tattoos or the eye makeup, but the loincloth definitely came up. That was their typical clothing, regardless of weather, although I find kind of hard to believe.
Maybe that was just while they were running? And the way station provided some warm clothing when they stopped?
Sometimes I think about that when watching an older movie.
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He'd import culture from other places he was stationed. He adopted the German custom of an after-lunch nap, which I still do.