All of this was captured on camera. The 350 old and rare images in this
book, many of them published here for the first time, not only chronicle
the introduction of photography in Japan, but also demonstrate that early
photographic images of Japan are vital in helping to understand the
dramatic changes that occurred in mid-nineteenth century Japan. Taken
between 1853 and 1912 by the most important local and foreign
photographers working in Japan, the photographic images, whether
sensational or everyday, intimate or panoramic, document a nation about
to abandon its traditional ways and enter the modern age.