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Revisiting postwar Japan through photos
Girl with a traditional hairdo visiting the Tori-no-ichi festival, taken in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1954 by Takeyoshi Tanuma
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Girl with a traditional hairdo visiting the Tori-no-ichi festival, taken in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1954 by Takeyoshi Tanuma.
Japan as we know it is an advanced country in almost every way imaginable – such as in education, technology and transportation.
Japan’s influence is present in Indonesia, with many people taking an interest in its products, culture, language and just the country in general.
Yet, throughout history, Japan was not always in its current glorious state.
The photo exhibition Metamorphosis of Japan after the War 1945-1964, organized by The Japan Foundation in collaboration with Bentara Budaya Jakarta, serves as a visual account of what went on in Japan and the changes the country experienced throughout the postwar period.
Youth, taken in Ginza, Tokyo, in 1962 by Takeyoshi Tanuma.
Curated by Tsuguo Tada and Marc Feustel, the exhibition opened on May 17, with the Jamaica Café acapella group singing some songs they had performed in Japan in March 2016, including “Kopi Dangdut”, widely known in Japan as “Coffee Rumba”.
The exhibition, which runs until May 30, also featured a photography workshop, discussion on postwar Japan with Susy Ong on Tuesday and will screen of films Tokyo Monogatari and Izu no Odoriko with Indonesian subtitles on Thursday.
“Through these photos, we can see and feel Japan’s transition from times of adversity to times of glory,” said the foundation’s general director, Tsukamoto Norihisa.
Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Tanizaki Yasuaki explained in his speech how Japan had suffered a loss in 1945.
“Yet in 1964, our economic conditions started to recover. This is evident in a photo in this exhibition that shows people on a train, in that the operation of the train itself was proof to our economic growth,” he said.
At the exhibition, he invited people to take a look at how Japan had improved over the years.
Into history: Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Tanizaki Yasuaki delivers a speech during the photo exhibition’s opening night at Bentara Budaya Jakarta. The exhibition runs until May 30.
The exhibition features approximately 120 photographs by 11 renowned photographers: Hiroshi Hamaya, Ihee Kimura, Ken Domon, Tadahiko Hayashi, Ikko Narahara, Shigeichi Nagano, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Shomei Tomatsu, Takeyoshi Tanuma, Kikuji Kawada and Eikoh Hosoe.
The photographs are divided into three sections: “The Aftermath of War”, “Between Tradition and Modernity” and “Towards a New Japan” – allowing visitors to see clearly the distinction between one period and another as well as the progress that Japan has gone through.
“It has been over 70 years since we lost in World War II and I believe that, by looking at pictures of what happened in the past, at the same time we are also looking at our future,” said Tsukamoto.
“That is to say, we are looking at all this progress that we have gone through, and we bear in mind that we have to keep on progressing. Through these pictures, we are looking at our future while looking at our past.”
The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.
— Photos by Frederica S. Priyanto
