Interior of the Toyobo cotton mill in Osaka’s Sangenya area. Cotton mills played a crucial role in transforming Japan from a feudal into an industrialized nation. Toyobo started off this revolution.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
Osaka Castle in 1929. There is no main castle tower, and the castle is surrounded by factories instead of trees. At this time, Osaka was a city of smoke.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
When the New Osaka Hotel opened in 1935, it was one of Japan’s finest hotels. It even boasted air-conditioned guest rooms, a world’s first. This rare pamphlet from its early days offers a fascinating peek inside.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
Osaka’s Kitahama business district in the 1920s. New concrete buildings contrast sharply with nearby wooden architecture. It felt modern and vibrant and was praised as “magnificent urban beauty.”| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
Osaka’s brand-new heart in the 1920s, the government district on Nakanoshima. The imposing building in front is Osaka City Hall, completed in 1921 (Taisho 10). From here a modern Osaka was created.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
After Japan’s first powered airplane flight in 1910, bird’s-eye view maps boomed. This essay explores a masterpiece of this genre, a 1924 map of Osaka.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN
Share the mission! Help save Japan’s unique visual heritage and safeguard it from being lost and forgotten.| OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN