Rackety wooden houses with shingled roofs in Tokyo’s Anjincho (安針町) in the Nihonbashi district. This image was published in the June 17 1872 issue of the newsmagazine The Far East, published in Yokohama by the famous Scottish publisher J. R. Black between 1870 and 1878. So we know this photo is at least as old as that date. The area looks dilapidated and squalid, quite different from the views of Japan on the souvenir photos that were soon sold all over the world. These portrayed Japan as a land of infinite beauty and charm.

A horse-drawn carriage has just passed through the Sakashita-mon gate, while three jinrikisha (rickshaws) are waiting for passengers. In the back the Kunaisho (Imperial Household) building can be seen. The Sakashita-mon was part of the original Edo Castle.

A wonderfully relaxed Ginza, full of empty space, with magnificent willow trees, a simple sandy road and a horse-drawn street car. It can hardly be any more different from the Ginza that we know today. Photographer Kimbei Kusakabe stood near what is now the Wako Building and pointed his camera towards Kyobashi. The small clock tower rising above the trees stood on the Ginza Branch of the Kyoya Watch Shop (京屋時計店の銀座支店時計塔). The simple yet elegant clock tower was for many years the symbol of Ginza and appears in many a nishiki-e (woodblock print). It was located on Ginza 4-chome, which at the time was seen as the end of Ginza Avenue.