This year marks the 150th anniversary of the conclusion of the Japan-Holland Treaty of Commerce and Amity, while next year will be the 400th year since trade between Japan and Holland began. To celebrate this landmark year for both Japan and Holland, this exhibition showcases photographs by two Dutchmen, Hans Brinckmann and Eisbarent Roche.
When Hans Brinckmann came to Japan in 1950 as a bank clerk, only 5 years had passed since the end of the war, and Japan was still in a phase of recovery. 5 years later, his coworker Eisbarent Roche arrived at the bank's Kobe branch, where Brinckmann was working. Sharing a strong interest in Japanese culture and everyday scenes from Japanese households, these two Dutchmen went out together to various places every weekend, capturing with their cameras the daily activities and traditional performing arts of Japan. Viewers will be able to enjoy photographs from the early to mid-Showa period (1950s-70s), which portray an idyllic past from a foreigner's' perspective.
Photography was imported from Holland to Japan long ago. By concurrently introducing crucial documents and photographs from back then, this exhibition aims to provide viewers with an opportunity to reacknowledge the history of close friendship between Japan and Holland.
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