Rare Hand-Colored Photographs of Japan on The Brink of Modernity in 1870s

Street minstrel, Gose.

Here’re a few rare photographs from the 1870s taken by Shinichi Suzuki (1835-1918) who photographed Japan for a foreign newsmagazine called The Far East.

After his lumber family business was destroyed by a tsunami in 1854, Suzuki traveled to Yokohama where he became an established photographer. Many of his photographs were hand-colored, which is why they appear more realistic and modern than the black and white photos of that era. Continue reading »