100 Years of Tokyo

An Exhibition of photographs from the JCII Salon

12 July - 21 September 2001

As part of the official programme for the Japan 2001 festival the JCII (Japan Camera Industry Institute) Photo Salon, Tokyo, presents the photographic exhibition '100 Years of Tokyo'.

The exhibition contains the work of 40 Japanese photographers reflecting the changes to the capital of Japan, Tokyo, over a one hundred year period, from the late Nineteenth Century to the end of the Twentieth Century. The JCII Photo Salon has selected the photographs of Tokyo from among its catalogue of collected works for this exhibition, curated by Kakugoro Saeki from JCII.

In 1900 some thirty years had passed since the then capital Edo had changed its name to Tokyo, with the streets of Tokyo reflecting the changing lifestyles brought about by the new technologies introduced from abroad. At that time the only professional photographers were those running studios, this was to change with the introduction of the 'vest pocket Kodak' camera, in 1912, by the Eastman Kodak Company.

'100 Years of Tokyo' catalogues the changing face of the city and its people in the lead up to the war; the massive reconstruction task undertaken after 1945; the new Tokyo hosting the 1964 Olympics and the change to the modern Tokyo of today.

Some sample images from the exhibition