OCCUPATION JAPAN: A SERVICEMAN’S PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUM.

[Japanese Photograph Album Occupation Photograph Album].

[Japan]. (Circa 1950). Stock ID #223686

Colour map 14.5 × 25.3cm, eighty colour commercial photographs 6.8 × 8.7cm, twelve black and white photographs 6.8 × 8.7cm and 11.5 × 8.1cm, 44pp with tissue guards (last six leaves blank), lacquered wooden covers, upper cover shows a map of Japan with mother-of-pearl inlay, brightly coloured images of a woman with a parasol on a bridge and Mt Fuji placed on either side of the map, tassle ties. Colour map creased at left edge, a little minor wear at edges. In very good condition.

An interesting commemorative photograph album which was most likely compiled by an American serviceman stationed in Japan during the Occupation period (1945–1952). It features not only many images of Japan from that period, but also reflects the particular views its compiler held towards Japan and its people.
A map of Japan is featured prominently at the centre of the upper cover with mother-of-pearl inlays marking major cities and military bases of the time. In addition to Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka, the locations of Occupation-era military bases — including Kure, Yokosuka, Sasebo, and Misawa — are marked.

Typical, classical images of Japan, namely Mt. Fuji and a maiko with an umbrella, are depicted in the background.
All the photographs in the album are commercially purchased images, many with English captions, and the locations span widely across Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu, taking in Tokyo and Osaka along the way. Three photographs of Kure, where the British Commonwealth Occupation Force was based, and two of Sasebo are included. American military personnel appear in photographs taken at Hakone and at a Japanese tea ceremony.
Many images of young Japanese women are included, some in traditional kimono, a few nude in baths. Yet the album also reflects a broader curiosity in Japan and its people, with numerous street scenes and images of ordinary daily life featured alongside these.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 223686.

Price: $750.00 AU

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