shows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.

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Unbeaten Tracks in Japan • Isabella L. Bird

In 1878, just 19 years after Japan opened it first ports to the world, and a mere ten years after the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, an adventurous 47-year old woman from the UK set out to explore the interior of Japan. The country was virtually unknown to Westerners, and a woman traveling only with a guide seemed outrageous. Everybody advised her not to, but she went anyway and wrote this unique and vivid journal of what she saw and experienced.

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Tags: Unknown • Meiji • Outside • At Work • Shops
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The owner of a vegetable store is holding a very large kabu (蕪, turnip). He appears to specialize in apples though, considering the large number that are displayed. Burdock, radishes, mustard leaf and onions can be seen in front of him. Panels on the eaves are cleverly used to protect the produce from the sunlight.

The Japanese diet during the Meiji Period consisted of rice, small quantities of vegetables, especially pickled, fish and beans. In the country, people often ate barley, millet, or another cheap grain instead of the more expensive rice.

Beef, pork and bread were introduced during the Meiji Period and did at first experience some popularity. Basil Hall Chamberlain mentions in his writings that in 1890, yatai (food stalls) were loaded with piles of bread for “jinrikisha-men and other coolies.”

But this popularity didn’t last very long. During the start of the 20th century, many people returned to a more traditional Japanese diet. It would take many years before these Western imports were finally accepted.

Although meat officially was not a part of the Japanese diet due to centuries of buddhist influence, venison was available in the countryside as yama-kujira (mountain whale). Fish was after all allowed, and whale were seen as fish. So by calling venison whale meat, consumption was safe.

Although Japanese cuisine is now extremely popular all over the world, many Western visitors during the Meiji Period were not very impressed:

Japanese dishes fail to satisfy European cravings. Imagine a diet without meat, without milk, without bread, without butter, without jam, without coffee, without salad or any sufficient quantity of nicely cooked vegetables, without puddings of any sort, without stewed fruit and with comparatively little fresh fruit, the European vegetarian will find almost as much difficulty in making anything out of it as the ordinary meat-eater. If Dr. Johnson had ever partaken of such a dinner, he would surely have described the result as a feeling of satiety without satisfaction, and of repletion without sustenance. The food is clean, admirably free from grease, often pretty to look at. But try to live on it—no!¹

¹ Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1905). Things Japanese Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan for the Use of Travellers and Others. J. Murray: 180.

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Photographer: Unknown
Publisher: Unknown
Medium: Albumen Print
Image Number: 80115-0014
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Thumbnail URL: http://oldphotosjapan.com/images/196t.jpg

Posted by Kjeld Duits • 2008-05-01

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