The Mainichi Photobank Historical Photo Exhibition (organized by The Mainichi Newspapers), displaying photographs that symbolize the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras, opened this month at Tea Room Hana, a café on the first floor of the Palaceside Building. Memorable images such as “the start of the Heisei era” and “the Great East Japan Earthquake” are on view. Admission is free.
The show commemorates the launch of a “Historical Photo Timeline” on Mainichi Photobank, one of Japan’s largest photo databases for corporate users, operated by The Mainichi Newspapers. The timeline presents more than 400 events in chronological order from the company’s holdings, organized into four periods—“Bakumatsu, Meiji, and Taisho,” “Showa (prewar),” “Showa (postwar),” and “Heisei and Reiwa”—so that users can find the pictures they need efficiently. It is well suited to producing commemorative publications, company histories, and yearbooks.
The exhibition begins with Meiji’s “Opening of the Government-run Tomioka Silk Mill” and continues through “the Russo-Japanese War,” “the Spanish-flu pandemic,” “the start of student evacuations,” “the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen,” “the bursting of the bubble,” and “the spread of COVID-19”—19 works in all, two of which won the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association Award. The exhibition runs through the 27th of this month.
Mainichi Photobank Historical Photo Timeline: https://photobank.mainichi.co.jp/view/timeline/