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Photographs of 19th Century Japan

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Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#21

Post by decimalenough »

xandrius wrote: post #8

And this stuff is why I love either super creative science fiction or travelogues (and the formers are hard to find). You can try to imagine a brand new world or simply try to re-live our real and past world. To me that is even more amazing, as it often can be the door to understanding some things of today's cultures and/or discover lost little worlds. Currently I'm going through this book of a guy who cycled across…

Can you share the name & author of the book?

I'll plug Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands as an extraordinary deep dive into a world that's entirely disappeared in our lifetimes:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825419.Arabian_Sands

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#22

Post by decimalenough »

Having visited last year, the scenery around Toshogu Shrine in Nikko isn't all that different, if you manage to visit like we did first thing in the morning as soon as they open and before the tour buses rock up. (The shrine is surrounded by acres of sacred forest where construction is prohibited.)

The cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, on the other hand, are completely unrecognizable.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#25

Post by Aeolun »

mongol wrote: post #12

Goes without saying, all the people on these photos are now all dead. And their children too. Zooming in and studying their faces, it strikes me how similar we are to them, and yet so different.

We are not different. The world is. I guarantee you those people had the exact same hopes and dreams we have now.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#26

Post by radpanda »

potato3732842 wrote: post #9

It's amazing to see pictures of feudal japan and think that some of the people who grew up there would be alive in the 1950s. Talk about witnessing progress.

That’s how I feel about present day humanity with regards to computer tech. I was born around the time of the 8086; my parents never really became fluent with computers. I was a nerd and got into computers as a teen, soon enough I had internet and then WiFi and now frickin smartphones hooked into LLMs. We’re the Information Age equivalent of those folks who spanned all the from the feudal era to riding Honda motorbikes.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#27

Post by canpan »

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 looks like that.

* Gion Machi Street, at Kyoto. Looks a bit different, but there are still many old houses like this.

* View of Nara.

* Tennojo Buddhist Temple

* Hakone Lake of Fujiyama

What does not exist anymore is any picture showing a town or village. I feel sad about this. There are a very few places that kept this (E.g. Shirakawago). Now all houses look boring. Only recently people thought to build pretty houses again.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#29

Post by mc3301 »

xandrius wrote: post #8

And this stuff is why I love either super creative science fiction or travelogues (and the formers are hard to find). You can try to imagine a brand new world or simply try to re-live our real and past world. To me that is even more amazing, as it often can be the door to understanding some things of today's cultures and/or discover lost little worlds. Currently I'm going through this book of a guy who cycled across…

Is it "Around the world on a bicycle"? I, too, would like to know the name of this book. Sounds interesting!
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