Vintage Japan

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Novice geisha prepares to meet patrons, Japan, 1946

Ph. Alfred Eisenstaedt

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Girls in kimono walking on a street in Japan, 1940s

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  Sailor shopping at “Robber's Alley”, Yokosuka, Japan, Dec 12. 1953

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Japanese actress Bibari (Beverley) Maeda poses for photographs during the Asahi Shimbun interview on August 26, 1966 in Tokyo, Japan

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Busy traffic in Tokyo, Japan, 1964

Ph. Brian Brake

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General view of Ginza District on December 17, 1964 in Tokyo, Japan

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Sendai Tanabata Festival, Sendai, Japan, August 1952

Tanabata, or the Star Festival, involves a Japanese tradition in which people write their wishes on small, colorful strips of paper (tanzaku) and hang them on the branches of a small decorative bamboo tree. It’s widely celebrated all over Japan, typically on the seventh day of the seventh month (July 7) - although some regions observe Tanabata on August 7, depending on how they decided to interpret the old lunar calendar.

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People prepare paper lanterns prior to the Tanabata Festival on August 7, 1954 in Yamaguchi, Japan.

Ph. Yasuo Tomishige

Tanabata (七夕), also known as the "star festival", takes place on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year, when, according to a Chinese legend, the two stars Altair and Vega, which are usually separated from each other by the milky way, are able to meet. Colorful Tanabata festivals are held across Japan in early July and August.

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People walk in the rain at Ginza district on January 29, 1957 in Tokyo, Japan

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Fireworks explode on the 10th anniversary of the Hiroshima A-Bomb dropping at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on August 6, 1955

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Life on remote Japanese islands, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, November 1967

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Young women walk on the street at Ginza district in Tokyo, 1969

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Commuters ride a crowded train in Tokyo, Japan, November 1958

Ph. Walter Carone

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Daily life on Aragusuku island in Okinawa under the U.S. occupation, Japan, 1969

As of October 2016, the island has a population of 15.

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A ‘Healthy Capsule’ is seen at the Sanyo Pavilion during the press preview ahead of the Expo '70 in Suita, Osaka, Japan

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Japan, 1958

Ph. Walter Carone

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Springtime in Japan, Eliot Elisofon, 1957