In 1945, Japan made a new start as a defeated and devastated country after WW2. However, after only 20 or so years, the nation's society, economy, and culture underwent dramatic transformations. It is difficult to specify precisely when the postwar period ended, but for the purposes of this exhibition, we define the "postwar" era as the period from the end of the war in 1945 to the year of the Tokyo Olympics, 1964. The 11 photographers introduced here were each active in this period of dramatic upheaval. Their work records the transformation of society, and many of the photographs that they took are significant from an artistic perspective in addition to being important records.

The photographers selected are Ken Domon, perhaps the best-known Japanese photographer of the 20th century for his cool-headed photo-realism, Ihee Kimura, whose approach to realism was distinguished from Domon's by its unique aesthetics, Hiroshi Hamaya, who photographed the climates and environments of mountain and agricultural villages together with the lives of their inhabitants, Tadahiko Hayashi, who produced marvelous portraits, Shigeichi Nagano, Ikko Narahara, Kikuji Kawada, Shomei Tomatsu, and Yasuhiro Ishimoto, who represent a younger generation of photographers, and Eikoh Hosoe and Takeyoshi Tanuma, who were two of the photographers who demonstrated the creativity of photography. Each of these individuals had his own style, but all produced significant works that are important records of this period.

It is our hope that as viewers enjoy their undeniable attractiveness and power, these photographs will also provide a starting point for thinking about the society of postwar Japan that was their background.

(Photo Upper Left) Children looking at a picture-card show. Tokyo 1953
(Photo Upper Right)  Young woman. Omagari, Akita 1953

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