Dear Customers & Freinds;

Hello from Japan! This is Antique Ichiroya News Letter.No.93rd.
I have found such a wonderful book a few weeks ago which I have never seen before.It is a book with photoes of how marriage is arranged in old days published in Meiji.There are many ways to leave history,can be books,videos,drawing pictures,etc.,but leaving one moment by camera is so different and special.
Today,I would like to talk about photoes and related subjects.

When I was child,taking photoes are not popular because it was still expensive,so I have photoes only when I had special events like piano recital,Shichigosan,the gala day,Undoukai,athletic meet,etc.
Because once they are taken,they can never be erased,so this piece of memory stays forever no matter how strange(funny)you look on it.I am sure that you have many interesting pictures which you might not want to share with?!

By the time I was around high school,people started to used
video cameras,so I have more vivid and interesting memories since they move!,then eventually,Pri-kura(print club) became exteremely polular,so taking pictures does not mean much like old days and photoes everywhere,in the drawers,on the cell phone screens,etc.
Pri-kura are machines you usually find in an arcade or game center that take your picture and then composite it in a graphic frame and print out a set of 16 to 20 of them as stickers about 1 inch by 1/2 inch big.
When it started,we could take only simple pictures using different frames and add some writings like names of friend you are taking with,dates,etc,BUT you can not believe what they can do now!
One of the most popluar thing girls do is to whiten their skins,and you can fatten your lips to be sexy,make your eyes blue,bigger,put long hairs,change colors,make your bodies thinner which turn them into
some kind of actress at the end!(if you have ever received pri-kura pictures from somebody you have never met,you can not beleive that is how she looks in person!)
The main customers are high schoil girlds,so in order to keep them entertain,pri-kura companies invested a lot of money into new ideas and equipments and change models every 3-4 months.
The most updated pri-kura might be the one called 'nail-art'.It has the same idea,but you can decorate your nails instead of faces and bodies,so after taking pictures,photoes have incredible gorgeous nails which girls enjoy a lot without spending much money going to realy salon.
I think this is our unique culture which you hardly see in any other countries,so if you come to Japan,you defnitly should try our one of the ineteresting culture since you can easily spot this machine.

Here is information of this unqiue technology,Print-club.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_booth

I really enjoy this modern technology,but I still prefer pictures in sepia,specially vintage photoes are really fantastic.
It is because of colors,but looking at any pictures even wedding make me feel very sad and make me imagine how they lived,what they were thiking about at this moment.

This are link to see fantastic pictures from Edo to Meiji.

http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/index.html
http://lize.nime.ac.jp/TradPic/OldPhoto.asp?L=1

At last,here is a link of this book if you have not seen,yet!
http://www.antiqueichiroya.com/item/list2/507693/

After reading this,you might want to open old albumes instead of going
picasa just clicking to go thr.I am sure that you can find special moment from opening old albums!

Tomorrow,we will list interesting pictures and charming kimonos,so please browse our both sites!

Thank you for taking your valuable time to read my 93rd newsletters and we will get back to you soon!

Have a wonderful day!

Hisami Sato

Japanese antique Ichiroya
http://www.antiqueichiroya.com
e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city