Old Tokyo
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OldTokyo.com is an online collection and gallery of vintage Japanese postcards displayed with respective historical detail, 1895-1970. Thank you for "liking"! Be sure to "repost", too!
“Back to the soil”, c. 1950. ‘Honey buckets’ (in Japanese: noson kangen, lit. ‘send back to the farm village’) were wooden barrels used to hold and transport transport human waste (shimogoe) for use as fertilizer in rural areas.
“Back to the soil”, c. 1950. (Colorized) | Old Tokyo
"Another vivid memory of early Japan was the 'honey bucket' patrols. Some trucks but mostly slow moving wagons pulled by oxen. "There was no central sewer system so the use of 'out houses with buckets...
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February 18, 2026 at 4:07 PM
“Back to the soil”, c. 1950. ‘Honey buckets’ (in Japanese: noson kangen, lit. ‘send back to the farm village’) were wooden barrels used to hold and transport transport human waste (shimogoe) for use as fertilizer in rural areas.
“Wrapped with deep affection, Hoka Sweet’s promise”, “Hōkā [Hawker]”-brand toiletries advertising postcard, 1917, posted to confirm an upcoming sales appointment.
“Hōkā”-brand toiletries advertising postcard, 1917. | Old Tokyo
See also: “Modern Shampoo” advertising postcard, c. 1935. “Club Washing Powder” advertising postcards, c. 1910. "With the introduction of Western civilization in our country, foreign-made toilet artic...
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February 16, 2026 at 5:06 PM
“Wrapped with deep affection, Hoka Sweet’s promise”, “Hōkā [Hawker]”-brand toiletries advertising postcard, 1917, posted to confirm an upcoming sales appointment.
“Snow scene”, Yokohama Park, Yokohama, c. 1910.
Yokohama Snow, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
See also: Winter Snow, c. 1903 A Snowy Morning at Uyeno, c. 1920 Snow View of Asakusa Park, c. 1910 SNOW STORM IN YOKOHAMA "Such heavy snow as fell in Yokohama, Tokyo, and surrounding districts on the...
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February 12, 2026 at 2:11 AM
“Snow scene”, Yokohama Park, Yokohama, c. 1910.
Round kite (wanwan-dako) flying at Naruto, Shikoku, 1935. The giant, round wanwan-dako of Shikoku’s Tokushima Prefecture are well-known as some of the largest kites made in the world. These commemorative postcards depicting the flights of these giant kites are dated June 2, 1935 (Showa 9).
Round kite (wanwan-dako) flying at Naruto, Shikoku, 1935. | Old Tokyo
See also: Kite-flying culture, c. 1910-1930. Japanese Kites (~Dako), c. 1960. Naruto whirlpools at Setonaikai, Inland Sea, c. 1910. "Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture: Since the 17th century the local peop...
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February 11, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Round kite (wanwan-dako) flying at Naruto, Shikoku, 1935. The giant, round wanwan-dako of Shikoku’s Tokushima Prefecture are well-known as some of the largest kites made in the world. These commemorative postcards depicting the flights of these giant kites are dated June 2, 1935 (Showa 9).
Quarantine Station at Megami, Nagasaki, c. 1910. Established in 1880 for passengers arriving and departing one of Japan’s first treaty ports, the facility was at the mouth of Nagasaki Harbor on the Megami River, some distance from the city-proper.
Quarantine Station, Megami River, Nagasaki, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
"As the children were small, I secured two Japanese amahs to look for them when they arrived [in 1908]. When the ship arrived, all the passengers were landed at the quarantine station and I was not al...
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February 10, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Quarantine Station at Megami, Nagasaki, c. 1910. Established in 1880 for passengers arriving and departing one of Japan’s first treaty ports, the facility was at the mouth of Nagasaki Harbor on the Megami River, some distance from the city-proper.
The 3rd Meiji Shrine Games commemorative postcard, Tokyo, 1926.
Meiji Shrine Games, Tokyo, 1926. | Old Tokyo
See also: Undokai (Sports Day), c. 1930 A history of tennis in Japan Exercises of the Tokyo Girls Higher Normal School, 1904 "That year [1924] saw many other initiatives: the inauguration of the annua...
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February 10, 2026 at 7:33 PM
The 3rd Meiji Shrine Games commemorative postcard, Tokyo, 1926.
Victorious Great Powers at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. From left to right: Victor Emmanuel III (Italy), Woodrow Wilson (US), Emperor Taisho (Japan), King George V (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France).
Victorious Great Powers at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. | Old Tokyo
See also: South Pacific Mandates (Japan), c. 1930. "Westerners dealing with Japan [in the spring of 1919] tended to fall back on stereotypes about the mysterious East. So much about Japan was curious,...
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February 9, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Victorious Great Powers at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. From left to right: Victor Emmanuel III (Italy), Woodrow Wilson (US), Emperor Taisho (Japan), King George V (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France).
“Night snow at Kanbara”, a ukiyo-e postcard reproduction published by S. Watanabe, c. 1940, from the seminal Hiroshige Ando work The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō completed after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832.
“Night snow at Kanbara”, Hiroshige postcard reproduction, c. 1940. | Old Tokyo
"The only colours in the image are worn by the three people. We have an almost physical sensation of the silence emanating from the scene, from the cold serenity of the landscape immersed in the eveni...
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February 9, 2026 at 5:46 PM
“Night snow at Kanbara”, a ukiyo-e postcard reproduction published by S. Watanabe, c. 1940, from the seminal Hiroshige Ando work The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō completed after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832.
Mitsukoshi Dry Goods Store, New Year’s advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1905.
Mitsukoshi Gofukuten advertising postcards, c. 1905. | Old Tokyo
See also: Mitsukoshi Department Store, Nihonbashi, c. 1903-1923. Roof Garden, Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo, c. 1930. Nozawa & Bros. department store, Yokohama, c. 1940. Mitsukoshi Gofukuten [Dep...
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February 9, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Mitsukoshi Dry Goods Store, New Year’s advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1905.
Dining room, Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, c. 1930. “The Miyako Hotel is favourably known to most distinguished travellers throughout the world. It is situated in the healthiest, prettiest, and most convenient part of Kyoto for sight-seeing and shopping.”
Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, c. 1910-1940. | Old Tokyo
See also: Veranda View of Kyoto, Miyako Hotel, c. 1910-1920 "The Miyako Hotel is a celebrated and popular hostelry, in an attractive garden on the slope of Higashi-yama in the NE quarter of the city, ...
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February 8, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Dining room, Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, c. 1930. “The Miyako Hotel is favourably known to most distinguished travellers throughout the world. It is situated in the healthiest, prettiest, and most convenient part of Kyoto for sight-seeing and shopping.”
Second Kyoto Railroad Terminal, c. 1950, a shin-hanga reproduction attributed to Tokuriki Tomikichiro. The reverse of this postcard is captioned “Kyoto Station, completion of construction [in 1914].”
The Second Kyoto Railroad Terminal, c. 1940. | Old Tokyo
See also: Tokyo Station, 1914-1940. Kobe Station, c. 1920. Manseibashi Station, Tokyo (1912-1936). The Station (1914-1950) "The story of Kyoto Station is a story of Kyoto’s progress through the modern...
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February 7, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Second Kyoto Railroad Terminal, c. 1950, a shin-hanga reproduction attributed to Tokuriki Tomikichiro. The reverse of this postcard is captioned “Kyoto Station, completion of construction [in 1914].”
Yebisu Beer, Tokio Brewery No. 1, Meguro, Tokio, c. 1900.
Yebisu Beer, Tokio Brewery No. 1, Meguro, Tokio, c. 1900. | Old Tokyo
"[Nippon Beer president] Magoshi's marketing strategies were simple but innovative, and he took a variety of approaches to reach new beer consumers. "First, whenever his firm delivered the first shipm...
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February 5, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Yebisu Beer, Tokio Brewery No. 1, Meguro, Tokio, c. 1900.
Hot sand bathers, Beppu, c. 1930.
The Natural Sand Baths and Onsen, Beppu, c. 1910-1930. | Old Tokyo
"Beppu, with a population of 62,300, is known throughout Japan for its hot springs, which include alkaline, sulphur, iron and carbonated baths, efficacious for various ailments. "Among the numerous pu...
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February 5, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Hot sand bathers, Beppu, c. 1930.
The Rosetta Hotel, berthed on Tokyo Bay near the Hama Detached Palace at Shibaura, c. 1910
Roseta hoter [sic], Tokyo, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
"Mr. M. Oshiro, the proprietor of the Oshiro Steamship Co., Tokyo, and some other business men, intend to purchase the Rosetta Maru and to convert her to a floating hotel. The ship will be anchored in...
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February 5, 2026 at 6:16 PM
The Rosetta Hotel, berthed on Tokyo Bay near the Hama Detached Palace at Shibaura, c. 1910
Hitachi color TV console advertising postcard, c. 1970. Back caption: “Japan’s beloved Momotaro (the boy born from a peach) and his animal friends with a Hitachi television set.”
Hitachi color TV console advertising postcard, c. 1970. | Old Tokyo
See also: Hitachi table fan, c. 1930. "Television in Japan was first introduced in 1939. However, experiments there dated back to the 1920s with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering work with electronic te...
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February 4, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Hitachi color TV console advertising postcard, c. 1970. Back caption: “Japan’s beloved Momotaro (the boy born from a peach) and his animal friends with a Hitachi television set.”
“Gekimetsu” (“Annihilation”) motion picture advertising postcard, 1930. Gekimetsu was a motion picture recreation of the Battle of Tsushima produced in 1930 by Nikkatsu Studios, scripted by the I.J.N.’s official historian, Admiral Ogasawara Naganari, and directed by Ogasawara’s son, Meiho.
“Gekimetsu” (“Annihilation”) motion picture advertising postcards, 1930. | Old Tokyo
See also: Battle of Tsushima Straits propaganda postcard, Russo-Japanese War, 1905. “This is the Japanese greatest admiral …”, Admiral Togo, 1906. “Tokyo Matsuri” advertising postcard, 1933. "In 1930,...
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February 4, 2026 at 5:31 PM
“Gekimetsu” (“Annihilation”) motion picture advertising postcard, 1930. Gekimetsu was a motion picture recreation of the Battle of Tsushima produced in 1930 by Nikkatsu Studios, scripted by the I.J.N.’s official historian, Admiral Ogasawara Naganari, and directed by Ogasawara’s son, Meiho.
“In commemoration of the Establishment of Direct Cable Communication between Japan and America” commemorative postcard, August 1, 1906.
“In commemoration of the Establishment of Direct Cable Communication between Japan and America” commemorative postcards, 1906. | Old Tokyo
See also: Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). “The peace envoys of Japan and Russia at Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard”, 1905. Secretary of War Howard Taft & First Daughter Alice Roosevelt in Japan, 1905. 50t...
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February 3, 2026 at 3:22 PM
“In commemoration of the Establishment of Direct Cable Communication between Japan and America” commemorative postcard, August 1, 1906.
“Admiral Togo and his flag-ship ‘Mikasa‘,” c. 1910, constructed at Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, UK, in 1898.
I.J.N. battleship “Mikasa”, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
See also: Memorial battleship “Mikasa”, Yokosuka, c. 1930. “This is the Japanese greatest admiral …”, Admiral Togo, 1906. Japanese curry, Officer’s mess, Battleship Mikasa, c. 1906. "MIKASA, a Japanes...
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February 3, 2026 at 4:04 AM
“Admiral Togo and his flag-ship ‘Mikasa‘,” c. 1910, constructed at Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, UK, in 1898.
On this date in 1954, Japan Air Lines inaugurated its Pacific Service. “City of Tokyo” DC-6B (JAL), seen here, christened JAL's first trans-Pacific route, flying Tokyo-San Francisco via Wake Island and Honolulu. The "City of Tokyo" is seen here on a ca. 1955 postcard loading passengers at Honolulu.
February 3, 2026 at 12:27 AM
On this date in 1954, Japan Air Lines inaugurated its Pacific Service. “City of Tokyo” DC-6B (JAL), seen here, christened JAL's first trans-Pacific route, flying Tokyo-San Francisco via Wake Island and Honolulu. The "City of Tokyo" is seen here on a ca. 1955 postcard loading passengers at Honolulu.
Limited express “Uzushio” promotional postcard, 1961. Inset lower-left displays the Osaka-Uno route, offering a convenient travel time of 2 hours and 50 minutes to Uno and 4 hours and 10 minutes to Takamatsu (in Shikoku).
Limited express “Uzushio” promotional postcard, Osaka-Uno, 1961. | Old Tokyo
See also: J.N.R. Tokaido Main Line Limited Express commemorative advertising postcard, October 1958. Kyoto-Matsue “Matsukaze” express train advertising postcard, 1961. "Uzushio" [Whirlpool] was a limi...
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February 2, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Limited express “Uzushio” promotional postcard, 1961. Inset lower-left displays the Osaka-Uno route, offering a convenient travel time of 2 hours and 50 minutes to Uno and 4 hours and 10 minutes to Takamatsu (in Shikoku).
Shirokiya department store, c. 1910, after completion of its Westernized storefront in 1903.
Shirokiya Department Store, c. 1910-1940. | Old Tokyo
See also: Shirokiya Department Store advertising postcard, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, c. 1930. Mitsukoshi Department Store, c. 1903-1923 "In speaking of the retail merchants of Tokyo mention should be made of...
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January 22, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Shirokiya department store, c. 1910, after completion of its Westernized storefront in 1903.
“Snow scene, Custom House of Yokohama,” c. 1910, on the Yokohama Bund. Custom House was the official port entry for passengers arriving by ship, and was also where all cargo entering Japan at Yokohama was cleared.
Custom House, Yokohama, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
"A strict examination of the luggage of passengers is made at the Custom House, but it is rare for any difficulty to arise as opium is the only article prohibited in the tariff. All dutiable articles,...
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January 22, 2026 at 12:57 AM
“Snow scene, Custom House of Yokohama,” c. 1910, on the Yokohama Bund. Custom House was the official port entry for passengers arriving by ship, and was also where all cargo entering Japan at Yokohama was cleared.
Shiga Housing Complex (danchi) postcard set, Nagoya, c. 1960. The ‘DK’, a combination of dining room and kitchen, which appeared after the Second World War, decisively changed the Japanese house. A Tokyo University research group developed the first dining-kitchen for public housing in 1951.
Post-war Housing Construction (danchi), c. 1960. | Old Tokyo
"The Japanese word danchi may not be evocative for a foreign reader, though its present use - which appeared in the mid-nineteen-fifties - became common language here. At the time, with the rebirth of...
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January 21, 2026 at 8:33 AM
Shiga Housing Complex (danchi) postcard set, Nagoya, c. 1960. The ‘DK’, a combination of dining room and kitchen, which appeared after the Second World War, decisively changed the Japanese house. A Tokyo University research group developed the first dining-kitchen for public housing in 1951.
Futaba-kai School, Tokyo, c. 1910, after the relocation and completion in 1910 of its new campus near the Imperial Palace at Kojimachi in Tokyo.
Futaba-kai School, Tokyo, c. 1910. | Old Tokyo
See also: Girls Normal School, Ochanozmizu, c. 1910. The Peers’ School, Tokyo, c. 1910. The 1st Higher School, Tokyo, c. 1910. "The Sisters of St. Maur, who went to Japan in the 1870s, remain active t...
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January 21, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Futaba-kai School, Tokyo, c. 1910, after the relocation and completion in 1910 of its new campus near the Imperial Palace at Kojimachi in Tokyo.
“Air raid by airship.” Army Air Defense Drill, c. 1930.
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"Organization for civil defense in Japan was marked by a confusing overlapping of jurisdiction, and provided situations where an individual might be a member of several civil defense organizations at once.
www.oldtokyo.com/army-air-def...
"Organization for civil defense in Japan was marked by a confusing overlapping of jurisdiction, and provided situations where an individual might be a member of several civil defense organizations at once.
Army Air Defense Drill propaganda postcard set, c. 1935. | Old Tokyo
See also: “War tuba”, acoustic detection array, c. 1935. “Anytime!!” Preparations for invasion, propaganda postcard, 1945. "Civil defense organizations were first established as early as 1928 in the s...
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January 19, 2026 at 7:21 PM
“Air raid by airship.” Army Air Defense Drill, c. 1930.
www.oldtokyo.com/army-air-def...
"Organization for civil defense in Japan was marked by a confusing overlapping of jurisdiction, and provided situations where an individual might be a member of several civil defense organizations at once.
www.oldtokyo.com/army-air-def...
"Organization for civil defense in Japan was marked by a confusing overlapping of jurisdiction, and provided situations where an individual might be a member of several civil defense organizations at once.
