This postcard image is included as a tie-sign of sorts, connecting two themes of this modest exhibition. The postcard nicely illustrates the making OF a traditional view AT a traditional view in conjunction with two important senses of how we looked.

In the first set of images (1 through 7), I am calling attention to traditional ways that Japan has been photographed. These images are good candidates for posters -- posters that one might see when entering the office of a local travel agent -- or images that might appear in a coffee table book on idyllic Japan. It is said that many first time visitors to Japan have these images in mind; they anticipate finding a country full of such scenes, only to arrive in Tokyo and say "Hon, this is just like Chicago!"

In the second set of images (8 through 13), I take another angle on how we looked. Here attention is directed more toward another sense of preferred views, namely, traditional views of Japanese life by Japanese people themselves. These photographs illustrate some characteristics of Japanese family photography or small group photography; they indirectly comment on Japanese preferences for photographing their own lives. Ironically they play into the stereotype of Japanese always taking pictures, a subject that has not been studied very well. I do not mean anything terribly grandiose here -- I am simply referring to traditions of looking -- both in terms of what Japan looks like to outsiders and how Japanese people take pictures of themselves, in traditional or conventional ways.

I am not a serious photographer in any artistic, commercial, or academic sense. Primarily I participate in leisure picture-taking, though perhaps, a little more persistently than others -- I was the one who always brought a camera on group trips during our two years of traveling throughout Japan. On the other hand I am very interested in how people present themselves to be looked at, how things are presented to be seen without cameras -- and how people think representations of self and/or things will be understood. And I insist on thinking about how people look at people, places and things, again, with and without cameras. The phrase: How We Looked continues to fascinate. This modest exhibition reflects a small piece of these interests.

To anticipate a few questions -- all photographs were taken between 1993 and 1995 while I was teaching at Temple University, Japan. I used Kodak (not Fuji or Konica) 35mm film in an Olympus IS-3 camera with a 35-180mm lens. Processing was done in a Kodak (not Fuji) lab. The prints were made in Philadelphia during a special sale.

Postcard image, Marc Ribaud, Kamakura Japan, 1958
Exhibit preparation by Muriel Kirkpatrick and Rikki Shimp

No. 1 --  February 16, 1995

Just outside the Takaragawa Onsen (hot springs baths) near Minakami, about two hours northwest of Tokyo, at a time when there was no snow in Tokyo. Lending to the visuality of modern Japan, elaborated maps in public places are very common, inviting thoughts about current debates on problematic relationships of the map and the territory.

No. 2 -- July 2, 1994

In Nikko, approximately one hour north of Tokyo, as part of the Toshogu shrine. This location is a prominent holiday spot and site of much domestic Japanese tourism. We see well aged stone lanterns that are lit on New Year’s Day, the most prominent holiday in the Japanese annual calendar. This shrine is considered a National Treasure because a well respected Shogun is buried here, and it houses Nemuru Nekko (nekko means cat), or as called by Gaijin (non-Japanese, outsiders) tourists, the nekko at Nikko. Visitors have to pay 200 yen to stand on a stool to get a proper snapshot of the cat.

No. 3 -- June 4, 1994

On the outskirts of Nara, close to Kyoto, we see the Peony Temple, so named because of peony flowers brought from China that line the walkway to the temple. This multi-layered temple is on the obligatory pilgrimage route -- one noted for the huge Buddha that resides within. This is also a wonderful location for taking pictures of picture-takers.

No. 4 -- July 2, 1994

This scene comes from Rinno-ji, a Buddhist temple in Nikko. We are positioned at the foot of hill on way to Toshogu shrine. Showing a stupa set amidst the rich foliage and multiple-textured moss as a forgiving land cover. Here we have an example of an appreciation of what anthropologist Joy Hendry refers to when conceptualizing a garden as a medium of communication. Part of the place's popularity is due to the sense that it fosters a strong sense of tranquillity and peaceful meditation.

No. 5 -- Sunday, March 27, 1997

Mitake, just west of Tokyo, a place popular for sports activity including kayaking as well as backpacking and hiking in full garb with abundant equipment. This precise view is very popular with members of Japanese amateur camera clubs -- a predictable and conventionalized as a "Kodak Spot." Visit was made to see the Plum Blossom Screen -- a nationally revered painting by Kawai Gyokundo -- on display only when the flowers are in bloom.

No. 6 -- May 16, 1994

These are probably the most photographed hands in all of Japan. In Kamakura, about 1.5 hours southeast of Tokyo, we find Daibutsu, the Great Buddha, completed in 1252 and over ll meters high. This location is a key site for both domestic and international tourism, often jammed with tour groups including many school children. Conventional and disposable cameras are always seen and in use. Interestingly most Japanese on-camera poses that I personally witnessed, seemed as stiff as the Buddha's.

No. 7 -- Sunday, November 7, 1993

About 40 minutes west of Tokyo, Mt. Takao (Takao-san) is a popular location specifically around maple leaf-viewing time. Our sake-aided climb to the Yakuo-in Temple at the summit was incomplete, to no one's surprise. This site offers another popular, scenic and carefully arranged hiker's paradise complete with taiko (drum) performances and plentiful omiyage (souvenir) shops.

No. 8 -- November 13, 1994

At the Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo, throngs of Japanese gather to celebrate Shichigosan (7-5-3 day). Girls who are either 7 or 3 that year, and boys who are 5 or 3, are the centers of attention, dressing in traditional clothing and visiting shrines too ensure future success. Video and still cameras are everywhere; itinerant photographers are there also. Women in traditional Japanese clothing using cell phones and cameras offer those special moments and views of continuity and change.

No. 9 -- November 13, 1994

Here we see some results of Shichigosan photography, also from the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Celebrations central to this national holiday present mandatory "home mode photo ops" central to Japanese camera culture.

No. 10 -- Wednesday, November 3, 1993

Cameras are also plentiful and active during National Culture Day. This day includes public displays of traditions, vanishing as they might be according to anthropologist Marilyn Ivy. Such photogenic activities include martial arts, archery and horseback archery. Cameras and amateur photography are accepted as just part of the scene.

No. 11 -- Saturday, May 7, 1994

The setting is Komeida Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo, known as the Wisteria Shrine. The time is just after Golden Week (collection of closely scheduled holidays and general time off) during the wisteria blooming, read wisteria-appreciation days. Perhaps it is no accident that the woman being photographed has come to this site at this time for this snapshot in sweater the same color as the azalea bush. Seconds later, these two women reversed their roles in exactly the same spots and identical poses.

No. 12 -- June 4, 1994

The sign appears on the steps of Todai-ji, a prominent temple in Nara and home of the largest Buddha in Japan (440 tons, 53 feet high). This sign is very telling, regarding popularity of this location and conventions picture-taking behavior characteristic of "being there." As an unobtrusive measure we are offered evidence of behavior that seemingly requires an explicit modification in Japanese camera culture.

No. 13 -- July 2, 1994

At Nikko, north of Tokyo. Sitting for group portrait at conclusion of tour is virtually obligatory; benches and photographer await the touring group. As Susan Sontag has suggested, much of tourist photography offers evidence that the trip was taken -- and, in the case of Japan, that it was done together and that it was done right -- very important details.