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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12/24/2008 (Wednesday)

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Tags: Unknown • Showa • Tokyo • Shops • City Views
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Employees pose in front of Tokyo sidewalk restaurants on a sunny day in May, 1934. The delivery bicycle belongs to Yanase Sushi (the shop with the white sign with red kanji).

At the time that the New York State Education Department commissioned this slide, sushi was basically unknown outside Japan.

The first English language guide of Japan that mentions the dish in its index is Terry’s Guide to the Japanese Empire (1920). Although the guide does describe sashimi, it only briefly mentions sushi as a local product of the Sakawa River made of trout served at stations nearby Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture.

“A product of this stream, in the shape of a small silvery trout seasoned with vinegar, cooked with rice, and called sushi, is sold at this and other stations (16 sen), and though unsavory and unpalatable to foreigners, it is much liked by the Japanese.”¹

It took a while, but eventually sushi made the jump abroad. America’s first sushi restaurant (Restaurant Nippon) was opened in 1964 in New York. Chicago had to wait until 1967 (Kamehachi).

The first conveyer belt sushi restaurant outside Japan was opened in 1980, in Los Angeles. It launched a worldwide sushi boom. Paris saw its first sushi restaurant in 1984 and the first European sushi factory, making products for supermarkets, was established in Amsterdam in 1988. Sushi restaurants are found from Ho Chi Minh City, Bali and Katmandu to Vladivostok, Kuwait and Nairobi.²

Sushi now represents Japanese cuisine, and in many countries eating sushi is seen as a status symbol. When the first Michelin Guide for Tokyo was published in November 2007, the prestigious guide awarded two sushi restaurants with three stars. A total of 15 sushi restaurants were awarded one or more stars.³

How surprised Philip Terry would be if he could see how Japanese sushi restaurants have spread all over the world and are jammed-packed with foreigners.

¹ Terry, T. Philip (1920). Terry’s Guide to the Japanese Empire. Houghton Mifflin Company, 368.

² Watanabe, Zenjiro, The Development and Expansion of the Japanese Diet. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.

³ Michelin Guide Japan

Map not available

Photographer: Unknown
Publisher: New York State Education Department
Medium: Glass Slide
Image Number: 80121-0006
Quote this number when you contact us about licensing this image

Thumbnail URL: http://oldphotosjapan.com/images/212t.jpg

Posted by Kjeld Duits • 2008-03-07

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