Photos from Japan in the 1950s

[peterm1]

I stumbled on the following article from The Atlantic which is full of images from Japan in the 1950s. I just thought that folks here might enjoy them.

I especially like the photo of workers in the Nikon plant in 1952 (photo 12) and of photo reporters wielding large format press cameras (photo 23). For some weird reason I really like image 37 too - a young woman in a car with a portable TV.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/japan-in-the-1950s/100697/

 

[Erik van Straten]

Surprisingly good photos. Press photographers were still able to really photograph at that time. Great job!


Erik.

 

[peterm1]

These shots might be of interest too. In color.

https://izismile.com/2010/12/21/japan_in_the_1950s_52_pics.html

https://www.vintag.es/2015/08/45-vintage-pictures-of-everyday-life-in.html

And one here specially for Yokosuka Mike..........................................

https://www.vintag.es/2017/06/35-beautiful-photos-capture-daily-life.html

 

[peterm1]

PS - and afterthought.

Image 30 in the link from my first post below should be of special interest to photographers. It depicts the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy known in Chinese as Guan Yin.

Anyone know why I say this? 🙂

 

[kinch123]

Japanese language rendering of 觀音 (Guanyin in Mandarin) can be romanised as Kannon <-- Canon.

Current legal name of Canon Inc uses katakana instead of the above Kanji and transliterates as kiyanon blah blah the rest of it.

 

[dourbalistar]

I stumbled on the following article from The Atlantic which is full of images from Japan in the 1950s. I just thought that folks here might enjoy them.

I especially like the photo of workers in the Nikon plant in 1952 (photo 12)...

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/japan-in-the-1950s/100697/

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Any resident Nikon historians know what lens is being assembled? Looks to be a LTM rangefinder lens with an infinity lock, but beyond that, it's hard for me to tell. It looks too short to be one of the telephoto lenses, but also a bit larger than one of the 5cm f/2 or f/1.4 normal lenses.

I actually have a lens of this era, the Nikkor-P.C 8.5cm f/2 LTM. By serial number, my copy dates back to ~1951. 😱

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Glorious photos from an era and country so unfamiliar to me (although I loved the Americans at the bulb factory in their large hats!).

 

[dourbalistar]

This gallery of 1930s pre-war photos is an interesting contrast to the post-war galleries that Peter M posted:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...-tokyo-street-life-kineo-kuwabara-in-pictures

 

[peterm1]

Japanese language rendering of 觀音 (Guanyin in Mandarin) can be romanised as Kannon <-- Canon.

Current legal name of Canon Inc uses katakana instead of the above Kanji and transliterates as kiyanon blah blah the rest of it.

This man wins a prize. Well, a gold star at least.

 

[Ste_S]

Japanese language rendering of 觀音 (Guanyin in Mandarin) can be romanised as Kannon <-- Canon.

Current legal name of Canon Inc uses katakana instead of the above Kanji and transliterates as kiyanon blah blah the rest of it.

It was Camera Kwanon originally

https://global.canon/en/news/2014/sep02e.html

 

[dourbalistar]

Japanese language rendering of 觀音 (Guanyin in Mandarin) can be romanised as Kannon <-- Canon.

Current legal name of Canon Inc uses katakana instead of the above Kanji and transliterates as kiyanon blah blah the rest of it.

To go a little further down the rabbit hole... Avalokiteśvara > 觀音 (Guanyin) > also known in Japan as Kanzeon or Kannon > Kwanon > Canon. You can read more about the history here on Canon's own website:
https://global.canon/en/c-museum/history/story01.html

 

[kinch123]

This man wins a prize. Well, a gold star at least.

Any chance of some exotic reptile skin covering and a passing reference to the Sultan of Brunei on my gold star?

 

[peterm1]

Any chance of some exotic reptile skin covering and a passing reference to the Sultan of Brunei on my gold star?

Yeh sure, why not! 🙂

 

[kuuan]

love the photos, Peter thank you for sharing!

 

[johnnyrod]

Very interesting, thanks for posting, and a few insightful comments following

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I stumbled on the following article from The Atlantic which is full of images from Japan in the 1950s. I just thought that folks here might enjoy them.

I especially like the photo of workers in the Nikon plant in 1952 (photo 12) and of photo reporters wielding large format press cameras (photo 23). For some weird reason I really like image 37 too - a young woman in a car with a portable TV.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/japan-in-the-1950s/100697/

Thank you for this, Peter, nothing better than old pictures to bring a smile to my face. I love the hula-hoop girl the best!

Mike