‘Tokyo: Art and Photography’ at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

29 July 2021 – 3 January 2022

Ahhh… Edo, Edo, Edo… …city of dreams, and occasional nightmares… …as Kumagai Jiro Naozane in the final part of the Kabuki play ‘Kumagai Jinya’ (Kumagai’s Battle Camp) says about the fragility of human existence “Juroku nen wa hito mukashi, aa, yume da yume da” (Sixteen years, like a day. Ahhh! It’s a dream, a dream). And if any phrase best represents both the negative and positive potentialities that have emerged from the natural and man-made adversities that have afflicted Tokyo and best reflect, at least in the mind of this reviewer, its impermanence, of almost continual destruction and re-construction since its inception as Edo, it is this one.

Book Review: Photography In Japan 1853 – 1912

A delight to the eye and a treasure trove of information!

Photography in Japan 1853-1912 , originally published in 2006, provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of early photography in Japan often little known outside academic circles or those with a specific interest in the period when Japan was undergoing rapid modernisation.

Though most people are generally unaware of the larger scope of the world of early photography in Japan and the early photographs of both non-Japanese and Japanese photographers, some with little more than a passing interest may be aware of the photographs of Felice Beato, which have recently had a fair amount of publicity, some of which are included in this book. The book follows the beginnings of photography in Japan from its introduction by foreigners through its

Two Years After: Remembering The Devastation And Celebrating Hope

The Great East Japan Earthquake Press Photo Exhibition Comes to London in March!

Presented by The Asahi Shimbun and Mitsubishi Corporation

The Asahi Shimbun and Mitsubishi Corporation will co-host The Great East Japan Earthquake Press Photo Exhibition in London from Tuesday 5 until Sunday 17 March. The exhibition was held in three Asian cities during 2012: Bangkok, Jakarta and Seoul. Now, the 2013 exhibition marks the second anniversary of the