Japanese Postcard Views

This exhibition contains Japanese postcards from an album dating from the early 20th Century. The album holds 198 vintage postcards: 169 Japanese postcards and 29 from other countries. It was originally thought that the album was part of Central Library's Henry Dyer Collection, but this is no longer certain.

After the fall of the Tokugawa government in 1867 in Japan, the new Meiji government initiated full-scale modernisation. Modernisation meant Westernisation and so the government invited many foreign specialists to Japan. Henry Dyer was a Scottish Engineer who contributed to establishing the foundations of a Western style education system in Japan.

Our research suggests that the postcards date from 1907 - 1917, after Dyer had left Japan. We know that these postcards were produced between 1907 and 1918 because of the design of the reverse side. [The design of the reverse side changed several times over the years and is an important indicator when identifying the year of publication. From 1907 to 1917, one third of the space allowed a message to be written. Previously, there had only been room for the recipient's name and address and then between 1918 and 1932 the space for a message was increased from one third to one half.]

However, after leaving Japan, Henry Dyer continued to assist with the relationship between Japan and Scotland. He was awarded the second class medal by the Meiji government in 1908. Could he perhaps have returned to Japan to receive his medal and at the same time acquired the postcard album? Unfortunately, there is no documentation to substantiate the album's inclusion in the Henry Dyer Collection and so we may never know for sure.

The album is full of beautiful, natural landscapes and famous tourist places in Japan such as Yokohama, Hakone, Tokyo, Nikko, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Except for Hakone, these cities are the main cities in Japan. The album also includes scenes less palatable as postcard views today: an execution scene and brothel houses. After Japan stopped its national isolation policy in 1854, the cities developed with help from foreigners who were interested in Japan both culturally and economically.

Interestingly, the postcard locations follow the route of the principal travel guide book for foreigners which was published between 1880 and 1890. The general route was to arrive in Yokohama by ship, then to go sightseeing around Tokyo, Hakone or Nikko. After that, tourists went to the western part of Japan including Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe by train. Finally, they left from Kobe for Shanghai or Hong Kong by ship. Although the postcards were published after the travel guide, the places depicted are the same as in this established tourist route.

This exhibition contains 49 of the 198 postcards and offers an introduction to Japanese culture and the famous tourist sites. Enjoy browsing the scenes and tourist locations as if you had travelled in Japan 100 years ago. Most of these places or buildings still exist and remain popular for both Japanese and foreign tourists.