Photo: YouTube/iconauta
lifestyle

122-year-old video of downtown Tokyo shows how much Japan’s capital has changed

10 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

Japan spent the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the majority of the 19th, in a state of government-imposed isolation, separating it from the technological advancements of the rest of the world. Once the country was finally opened to the international community, it put great efforts into modernizing as quickly as possible, making photos of the traditional Japan that had existed for generations hard to come by.

Even rarer, though, is film that preserves the sights of old Japan. Brief clips do exist, though, such as this fascinating street scene filmed in Japan in 1897, year 30 of the Meiji era.

The rustic wooden architecture and dirt street may have you thinking this is a look back at one of Japan’s minor villages, but that’s not the case at all. The film, recorded by French filmmaker and visual travelogue pioneer Constant Girel, was filmed on January 9, 1897, in Tokyo, and not in the far-flung outskirts of the capital. The street where Girel set up his camera was in the Nihonbashi district, not far from the Imperial Palace, and to show just how much the neighborhood has changed in the 122 years since, here’s what it looks like today.

bashi.jpg

Nihonbashi isn’t far from present-day Tokyo Station, where over a dozen train and subway lines, including Shinkansen bullet trains, converge. Girel’s video, though, predates the station’s construction by almost 20 years, and instead shows people getting around by foot, horse-drawn carriage, or rickshaw.

With Girel’s film having been made just 30 years after the end of Japan’s feudal era, a movie camera, as well as a foreigner himself, were still unusual in Japan. Passersby, many of whom are old enough to remember first-hand a time when Japan was still ruled by a shogun, stop and stare at the unfamiliar sight.

tv-4.png

At one point, though, a stately looking gentleman rolls up in a rickshaw. As he steps down into the street, we can see that he’s paired his traditional kimono with a Western-style top hat. It’s an early example of Japan’s enthusiasm for adopting eclectic cultural influences, and also a reminder that even the most ordinary snippets of daily life can one day become a fascinating preservation of a moment in history.

Source: YouTube/iconauta via Japaaan, Catalogue Lumiere

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Here’s how one Tokyo neighborhood mixes modern technology and traditional culture to beat the heat

-- Scholars confirm first discovery of Japanese sword from master bladesmith Masamune in 150 years

-- Get a taste of Japan’s past NOW, with these retro snacks and sweets at Tokyo department store

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

10 Comments
Login to comment

No matter. It is fascinating to watch!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Fascinating.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Is "122-year-old video" a correct description? The film from which the video was made is 122 years old, but as far as I know, they did not have video in those days. Or is there another definition of video?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I like the two guys in the foreground between 0:20 and 0:33.

Looks like the earliest film record of a case "I was drunk and I don't remember" in Tokyo! ;)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

not much has changed it seems, still staring at foreigners..

2 ( +2 / -0 )

gokai, I think the first moving pictures were in the decade mentioned here. I saw a documentary about the history of cinema that began with these guys:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_and_Louis_Lumi%C3%A8re

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This short bit of film is very rare, the film of the time was made/used from acetate which inevitably disintegrates over the years and can in some cases catch fire when exposed to oxygen, when these film are discovered they have to go to a spiciest company to handle them and transfer the images to new film/disc

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'd like to go back in time to be there, just a few days. But I probably wouldn't understand much of the old language.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@gokai,

i think it was called cinematography.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites