“Yumedono at Jioguoin”, Horiuji, Nara, c. 1910. The octagonal Yumedono [“Hall of Dreams”] is one of Horyuji temple’s most impressive buildings. It was commissioned in 739 as a monument to Prince Shotoku Taishi.

Museum exhibit souvenir postcard of a covered Maruko-bune [Round-bottomed boat], c. 1920, a pole-leveraged cargo vessel unique to Lake Biwa near Kyoto that could also be configured to transport passengers.

The Tokyo studios of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.), c. 1948.

View of Snow at Shiba Park, c. 1910.

“Christmas Greetings from the Naces”, c. 1930. The five Nace children (left to right): Theodore, Margaret, Rebecca, George and Robert.

Engakuji Temple, Kamakura, c. 1940.

Park and temple visitors gather at the fountain at Asakusa Park, Tokyo, c. 1910, with the back of Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon) temple in the background.

Tokyo Monorail departing Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport, c. 1965. A Northwest Airlines “travel” postcard. In the foreground is a 1962 Plymouth Fury sporting an orange US diplomatic license plate.

Fukuoka Industrial Exposition, Kyushu Electric Light & Traction Co. promotional postcard set, Fukuoka, 1920. One of several postcards published by the primary sponsor of the Exposition to promote the use of electricity at home.

Cherry Blossoms Yedogawa, Tokyo, c. 1910.

Head Office, Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd., Kanda, Tokyo, c. 1910.

“The Bronze Statue of Masashige Kusunoki, Great Patriot, in front of the Imperial Palace”, Tokyo, c. 1930.

“The Girl’s Festival”, Kyoto, c. 1960.

Exposition advertising postcard commemorating the 70th anniversary of the “Meiji Assembly”, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1938.

Dai Nippon Butoku Kai [“Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society”], Akita Prefecture branch, 1906.

J.N.R. Tokaido Main Line Limited Express commemorative advertising postcard, 1958, announcing the introduction of “Kodama”, “Tsubame”, “Fuji” and “Hato” high-speed express service on the Tokaido Main Line between Tokyo & Osaka on October 1, 1958.

Earthquake refugee camp [バラック, ‘barakku’] on the Imperial Palace plaza, Tokyo, 1923.

“Girls picking off tea leaves”, c. 1920.

Tokyo Exposition for Domestic Industry Promotion in Commemoration of the Coronation, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 1928. Photo inset: Exposition sponsor Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi, the industrialist, banker and investor who became known as the “Father of Japanese Capitalism”.

Panoramic view, Kobe Port Opening Exhibition and Naval Review postcard series, Kobe, 1930.

Kagaya Tourist Hotel, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Prefecture, c. 1930.

“Back to the soil”, c. 1950. ‘Honey buckets’ (in Japanese: noson kangen, lit. ‘send back to the farm village’) were wooden barrels used to hold and transport transport human waste (shimogoe) for use as fertilizer in rural areas.

“Wrapped with deep affection, Hoka Sweet’s promise”, “Hōkā [Hawker]”-brand toiletries advertising postcard, 1917, posted to confirm an upcoming sales appointment.

“Snow scene”, Yokohama Park, Yokohama, c. 1910.

Round kite (wanwan-dako) flying at Naruto, Shikoku, 1935. The giant, round wanwan-dako of Shikoku’s Tokushima Prefecture are well-known as some of the largest kites made in the world. These commemorative postcards depicting the flights of these giant kites are dated June 2, 1935 (Showa 9).

Quarantine Station at Megami, Nagasaki, c. 1910. Established in 1880 for passengers arriving and departing one of Japan’s first treaty ports, the facility was at the mouth of Nagasaki Harbor on the Megami River, some distance from the city-proper.

The 3rd Meiji Shrine Games commemorative postcard, Tokyo, 1926.

Victorious Great Powers at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. From left to right: Victor Emmanuel III (Italy), Woodrow Wilson (US), Emperor Taisho (Japan), King George V (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France).

“Night snow at Kanbara”, a ukiyo-e postcard reproduction published by S. Watanabe, c. 1940, from the seminal Hiroshige Ando work The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō completed after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832.

Mitsukoshi Dry Goods Store, New Year’s advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1905.

Dining room, Miyako Hotel, Kyoto, c. 1930. “The Miyako Hotel is favourably known to most distinguished travellers throughout the world. It is situated in the healthiest, prettiest, and most convenient part of Kyoto for sight-seeing and shopping.”

Second Kyoto Railroad Terminal, c. 1950, a shin-hanga reproduction attributed to Tokuriki Tomikichiro. The reverse of this postcard is captioned “Kyoto Station, completion of construction [in 1914].”

Yebisu Beer, Tokio Brewery No. 1, Meguro, Tokio, c. 1900.

Hot sand bathers, Beppu, c. 1930.

The Rosetta Hotel, berthed on Tokyo Bay near the Hama Detached Palace at Shibaura, c. 1910

Hitachi color TV console advertising postcard, c. 1970. Back caption: “Japan’s beloved Momotaro (the boy born from a peach) and his animal friends with a Hitachi television set.”

“Gekimetsu” (“Annihilation”) motion picture advertising postcard, 1930. Gekimetsu was a motion picture recreation of the Battle of Tsushima produced in 1930 by Nikkatsu Studios, scripted by the I.J.N.’s official historian, Admiral Ogasawara Naganari, and directed by Ogasawara’s son, Meiho.

“In commemoration of the Establishment of Direct Cable Communication between Japan and America” commemorative postcard, August 1, 1906.

“Admiral Togo and his flag-ship ‘Mikasa‘,” c. 1910, constructed at Vickers shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, UK, in 1898.

On this date in 1954, Japan Air Lines inaugurated its Pacific Service. “City of Tokyo” DC-6B (JAL), seen here, christened JAL's first trans-Pacific route, flying Tokyo-San Francisco via Wake Island and Honolulu. The "City of Tokyo" is seen here on a ca. 1955 postcard loading passengers at Honolulu.

Limited express “Uzushio” promotional postcard, 1961. Inset lower-left displays the Osaka-Uno route, offering a convenient travel time of 2 hours and 50 minutes to Uno and 4 hours and 10 minutes to Takamatsu (in Shikoku).

Shirokiya department store, c. 1910, after completion of its Westernized storefront in 1903.

“Snow scene, Custom House of Yokohama,” c. 1910, on the Yokohama Bund. Custom House was the official port entry for passengers arriving by ship, and was also where all cargo entering Japan at Yokohama was cleared.

Shiga Housing Complex (danchi) postcard set, Nagoya, c. 1960. The ‘DK’, a combination of dining room and kitchen, which appeared after the Second World War, decisively changed the Japanese house. A Tokyo University research group developed the first dining-kitchen for public housing in 1951.

Futaba-kai School, Tokyo, c. 1910, after the relocation and completion in 1910 of its new campus near the Imperial Palace at Kojimachi in Tokyo.

“Air raid by airship.” Army Air Defense Drill, c. 1930. www.oldtokyo.com/army-air-def... "Organization for civil defense in Japan was marked by a confusing overlapping of jurisdiction, and provided situations where an individual might be a member of several civil defense organizations at once.

The ryokan “Himeno Hotel”, Beppu, c. 1930. As early as the Edo Period (1603-1868), the area boasted eight hot springs and by the end of that period ryokan had already been established along the main highway.

“Master Takayama worshipping in the snow”, Kora Taisha Shrine (“National Shrine of the Gods”), Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, c. 1920.

Ikaya Ryokan, Naoetsu, Niigata Prefecture, c. 1910. Ikaya ryokan first opened in 1872 twenty-five years before Naoetsu became the terminus of the Shin-etsu Line to Nagano.

“Budō-Seru” (Grape-Cell) silk fabric advertising postcard, c. 1930. “Each roll of this fabric bears the ‘Insect-Proof Grape-Cell’ mark at every yard along the edge.”