I just saw an exhibit at the Fujifilm Square in Roppongi Midtown. This photographer Kuichi Uchida accompanied Meiji Emperor's travels in the midst of Japan's modernization. They are taken around 1868 and it is really something, in particular the shift of old Japan to westernization and modernization. Men are wearing top hats with a kimono. Yokohama Station does not look like Japan. You can feel the excitement of people mixing western things and feeling liberalized from the old ways.
This photo was my favorite, of non-samurai/non-aristocrats hanging on the Sumida River. Before 1868, windows on a boat were not allowed to be covered if you were a commoner, and now they could have a small room with
shoji (Japanese paper window). More photos can be found
here.
Photo credit:
Fujifilm
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