Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Photographs of 19th Century Japan

cosmographia.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 137 posts

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#81

Post by Timwi »

i_v wrote: post #39
hoseyor wrote: post #33

[flagged]

I just don't think that's true. This seems like a really pessimistic take. Is it truly "globalist world domination" — implying that our corporate overlords want us to live like this? Or is it purely function and aesthetic? Capitalism puts power in the hands of consumers—sure, marketing has an influence—but also, we as consumers are the ultimate deciders. Cost, labor, and wealth. All are influences in the deciding of…

You can't be serious, right? As a consumer, where can I choose to buy a printer with no planned obsolescence? Or a food item with no plastic packaging? In capitalism we do not, in fact, have the power you describe, because only the most profitable products are sold at scale, not the most desirable.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#82

Post by pjc50 »

hoseyor wrote: post #33

[flagged]

The thing is, Sakoku passim, you can't really prevent homogenization without entirely abandoning the 20th century (heck, 19th century!) travel revolution. You'd need a global ban on air travel, TV, and Internet.

The alternative is a sort of re-enactment/cosplay approach where people consciously try to keep local traditions and minority languages (e.g. Gaelic, Sami) alive.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#83

Post by damnitbuilds »

hoseyor wrote: post #33

[flagged]

Hmm. If we want to preserve our diverse cultures, then we have to do more to defend our own cultures against immigrants imposing their cultures over them.

How you do that without being outright racist is the tough part.

And I say this as a migrated child of migrants.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#84

Post by hermitcrab »

Aloisius wrote: post #42
hermitcrab wrote: post #7

What is the story of the 'letter carrier'?

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?

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#85

Post by dudeinjapan »

decimalenough wrote: post #73
ekianjo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, on the other hand, are completely unrecognizable. getting utterly destroyed by fire bombing (or atomic bombs in the case of Nagasaki) does that to cities.

Kyoto was never bombed, but outside a very few carefully curated touristy bits, it's still an ugly AF concrete jungle that looks nothing like these pictures.

[dead]

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#86

Post by sandworm101 »

They look like a video game. There arent enough NPCs. These are idealized images, akin to tourist photos. The seem to be taken in the early morning, before the crowds of people appear. The bell is perhaps the best example. Just think of the industry needed to mine and forge all that metal. These streets should be crammed with people but it looks like a town from Oblivion: massive constructions inhabited by a handful of residents. These are great photos, somewhat limited by the camera tech of the time, but I would like to see more typical scenes.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#87

Post by tjpnz »

damnitbuilds wrote: post #83
hoseyor wrote: post #33

[flagged]

Hmm. If we want to preserve our diverse cultures, then we have to do more to defend our own cultures against immigrants imposing their cultures over them. How you do that without being outright racist is the tough part. And I say this as a migrated child of migrants.

Don't see much imposition in Japan and this year will mark ten years living here. People who can't or won't assimilate quickly find themselves living on another plane of existence and eventually leave. Language plays a big part with that too. If you can't speak Japanese or have someone with you who can there are countless everyday situations where you're SOL.

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#88

Post by MrRed »

You'll probably enjoy this project https://hikaria.org/ we have been working on with the Guimet museum in Paris (https://www.guimet.fr/fr) to showcase 19th century Japanese photos.

We are building that website to oroganize various collections, and allow users to search through them using object detection (Clip model)

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#89

Post by ekianjo »

decimalenough wrote: post #73
ekianjo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, on the other hand, are completely unrecognizable. getting utterly destroyed by fire bombing (or atomic bombs in the case of Nagasaki) does that to cities.

Kyoto was never bombed, but outside a very few carefully curated touristy bits, it's still an ugly AF concrete jungle that looks nothing like these pictures.

Not the central part of Kyoto. You can walk in areas like Gion that have mostly remained the same for centuries. Of course as cities get bigger you get concrete. just like other cities Kyoto has grown in the 20th century and at some point you need concrete instead of wood

Re: Photographs of 19th Century Japan

#90

Post by geokon »

The scenes really remind me of the painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qin...

The juxtaposition really brings out how isolationist they were back then. A country that is like a time capsule to the Tang dynasty

It's like if there was an island full of people still wearing Roman togas and going to the local hippodrome

Post reply on HN