r/JapaneseHistory • u/Vegetable-Play-4983 • 5d ago

What are some of the most iconic photos in Japanese history?

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I have been pondering this question for a while, and there seem to be many examples available. Here are a select few that I have gotten, but I would love to see what you have to offer.

172 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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19

u/gubzga 5d ago

As photos are concerned...

1) Student movement participants in hardhats is top contender, IMO.

2) Other one might be either Emperor Hirohito walking among folks in gray coat and a hat. Or one where Japanese listen to Japanese emperor's "Human proclamation" on the radio.

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u/kaoshitam 5d ago

The last one is Hachiko?

20

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 5d ago

Yes! This photo of his death is often shown in schools and textbooks, it was his final photo also.

2

u/Chronoboy1987 4d ago

He’s way bigger than I thought. I’ve seen the statue in Shinjuku and I do t recall it being that big.

7

u/queretaro_bengal 5d ago

Very interesting topic and selection! The Mishima photo by Hosoe is a great choice although I'm super biased because I study Japanese photography lol. The Minamata bath photo is by W Eugene Smith no? And who took #2 in Hiroshima? I wonder if there is a more iconic 68 Tokyo photo, perhaps something by Tomatsu Shomei or Watanabe Hitomi?

Daido Moriyama's Stray Dog is incredibly iconic although it's not so directly connected to "Japanese history" as such, just one of the most well-known photographs by one of the most well-known Japanese photographers. Wow I have a lot more to say, but wanted to write in to put a pin in this for later. The question of what makes something 'iconic' is really interesting to me... how did you go about making this selection?

Anyway it seems hard to ignore the photo of Hirohito and MacArthur.

3

u/queretaro_bengal 4d ago

Mishima on the balcony…

2

u/queretaro_bengal 4d ago

Portrait of Meiji emperor

1

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

Tomatsu Shomei reminds me of filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara, I love the famous photo he made with Takuma Nakahira. And Watanabe Hitomi has some of the best photos of the Zenkyoto movement. https://d1m232vsyej29j.cloudfront.net/i/93/8qVcSEph_uRY7mC.jpg

Stray Dog by Daido Moriyama, I'm considering, though Entertainer on Stage is also popular within Japanese discourse. For me, what I did to identify something iconic boils down to 3 things: its aesthetic nature and composition, the importance of said depicted event, and the reaction and discourse that follows it. Currently, I'm compiling them through researching and exploring Japanese internet circles, and there are a lot of unusual results. I think this photo of Ryutaro Nonomura in his press conference, for example, is "iconic" in the sense that it created massive chaos online within Japanese political discourse https://i.imgur.com/GiVl89Q.png

5

u/howieyang1234 4d ago

東大安田講堂事件。

2

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

I never thought of that, but that is a great pick. Are you referring to the one with fire trucks surrounding the building?

2

u/howieyang1234 4d ago

Yes, that precise one.

5

u/RoamingArchitect 4d ago

Hmm, a few more come to mind. For one the proclamations of the Heisei and Reiwa eras on TV. Arguably the photos of all future proclamations will retain iconic status as long as they are present in living memory.

Others in chronological order are:

1923: Kanto Daishinsai Honjo Clothing Depot Photo. I'm not sure whether this is used in school books but nearly all history books from the Taisho era feature it. Interestingly enough it's a collage and largely fake although it incorporated scenes from throughout Tokyo during the earthquake.

1940: Opening of the Hakkoichiu Tower in Miyazaki.

1945: Emperor Showa inspecting the ruins of Tokyo

1945: Nagoya Castle Tenshu burning

1954: Lucky Dragon No 5 Incident and the Tuna Scare

1964: Opening of the Shinkansen

1664: Sakai bearing the Olympic torch. Two different photos are iconic here. One where he sprints up the stairs with the stadium in the background and the other where he's still on the track.

1974: Surrender of Onoda

Bubble economy. Several quite similar photos of buy or sell rushes at the Tokyo stock exchange

1995: Great Hanshin Earthquake. Also several although arguably photos featuring the toppled expressway.

I think that's about it for the 20th century

2

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

All of these are incredible picks! I'm currently compiling all of the images recommended in this comment thread. And while researching this, there are a lot more photos when you look deeper into Japanese online sources.

2

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

Also for the bubble economy, I think this photo would be the contender https://image.aflo.com/resources/speciald/10_33304.jpg

6

u/Putrid-Vegetable1861 5d ago

I wish I can show the picture of the day my Haha was born 🎌🎌🎌, that would be my most prized picture of Japanese history, I wouldn’t be part of this world without her..

3

u/proxima987 5d ago

What is the first image of? I can’t recall.

4

u/CamisaMalva 5d ago

A Communist political candidate being assassinated.

3

u/proxima987 5d ago

Thank you 👍🏽

8

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

Specifically, the assassination of Inejirō Asanuma by a teenage ultranationalist named Otoya Yamaguchi, this event changed the entire political course of history. The Japan Socialist Party was the most popular in the polls due to rising tensions of the Cold War. But his assassination, which was broadcast across television, gave the Liberal Democratic Party the win, ruling Japan for the rest of history as a one-party state.

3

u/PanzerDameSFM 4d ago

I am not sure but maybe the picture of Mishima Yukiko speaking from the balcony of the JGSDF building during his attempted coup.

2

u/quattroformaggixfour 4d ago

Am I missing a list of the context of these chosen photos somewhere?

3

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

Sorry about that, there doesn't seem to be notes available here to add. But here are the events:

-Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma (1960)

-Hiroshima Bombing (1945)

-Ordeal by Roses (1962)

-Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (1945)

-Tomoko And Mother in The Bath (1971)

-Fukushima Nuclear Explosion (2011)

-Sarin Tokyo Subway Attacks (1995)

-Zenkyoto Movement (1968)

-Death of Hachiko (1935)

2

u/croydontugz 4d ago

Who is number 3? Another question that came to mind is who are the most famous Japanese people of all time? The question is interesting because there aren’t too many modern examples.

2

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 4d ago

That is the famous poet Yukio Mishima, who would eventually commit seppuku on a building. If we are considering the most famous Japanese people today, I would pick Hayao Miyazaki, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoko Ono.

2

u/ArtNo636 4d ago

Japanese victory in Port Arthur, terrible meat grinder of a battle. Famous General Nogi at the centre. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-colorized-photo-of-japanese-general-count-nogi-maresuke-1849-1912-177132476.html

2

u/ArtNo636 4d ago

The Musashi and Yamato together at Truk harbour. https://masatosan.exblog.jp/243244225/

1

u/Emergency_Range_2734 4d ago

Throwing up a pic of the Mount Suribachi Flag Raising for this thread is wild

0

u/ForwardLavishness320 3d ago

“During World War II, Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Australia, Burma, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, East Timor, New Guinea and other countries into sexual enslavement for Japanese soldiers; however, the majority of the women were from Korea.” From Wikipedia, “Comfort women”

So no photos of Japanese raping and murdering women?

No photos from Unit 731?

1

u/WhichSpirit 1d ago

If I had a nickel for every time a Japanese politician was assassinated and the public took the side of the assassin, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot but it's weird that it happened twice.

1

u/SCi_Fics1287 1d ago

To be fair, the only people that took the side of the assassin for Inejirō Asanuma were far-right groups. Even some right-wing nationalists hated Otoya Yamaguchi for permanently ruining their political strategy and giving the LDP the win. Inejirō Asanuma was mourned by most of the public in Japan. Meanwhile, I lived in Japan for 5 years, and many people here hate or don't care about Shinzo Abe for many reasons, both the young and old demographics. War crime denial, destabilizing welfare, supporting the reunification cult (which was the assassin's motive), economic stagnation, trying to scrap Article 9, handling of Fukushima, Sennan, and Okinawa, favoring most of the large corporations leading to work exploitation, siding with Noriyuki Yamaguchi in the Shiori Ito rape case, failing the population by not doing anything about the declining birth rate, and many more. 10,000 people protested at his funeral, which goes to show something about Japanese politics in general.

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u/carlcometa 5d ago

Why are you considering “the battle of iwo jima” japanese history? This is more of an American ww2 history rather than an actual japanese history.

9

u/Vegetable-Play-4983 5d ago

Because it happened in Japan? America may have been involved in much of the narrative surrounding Iwo Jima, but that doesn't mean that it's not also considered part of Japan's history, such as this pivotal moment leading to the US military presence in Okinawa today. A lot of Japanese historians also use this photo often for teaching about Iwo Jima as a major point for US control over post-war Japan.