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Meiji Period

Japan’s oldest man passes away, thought to have been last male born in the Meiji period

Chiba centenarian was former school teacher.

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What did Japanese curry taste like 150 years ago? This instant curry pack lets you find out

It’s like a time travel adventure for your mouth.

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111-year-old Japanese confectionery company disappears forever due to COVID-19

Local Japanese candy stores get ready for a bittersweet goodbye.

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Embrace the literary and the historical with traditional Japanese artwork as your Zoom background

Gorgeous visuals from some of Japan’s most revered art pieces now available for download.

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122-year-old video of downtown Tokyo shows how much Japan’s capital has changed【Video】

Many of the people in the video spent their early lives living in a Japan that was ruled by a shogun.

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Artist’s photos from early 1900s Japan are little windows into another world 【Photos】

These aren’t illustrations or romanticized stories – just normal Japanese people as they lived over a century ago.

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Famous Japanese painter’s centuries-old cat artwork proves Japan has always loved felines

One of the Meiji Period’s most prolific artists painted more cats than you might have expected.

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Meiji-era Japanese “Hell Picture Book” is far more hilarious than horrifying 【Pics】

Having beans thrown at you, being glared at while sitting in a flower…what horror!

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Working like a dog – Old-timey Japanese invention planned to turn pooch power into butter

Japan’s Meiji period ushered in revolutionary changes to the country. As over 200 years of self-imposed isolation came to an end, centuries of economic, political, and scientific advances came flooding into Japan, and the nation’s thinkers and entrepreneurs began scrambling to modernize. Thanks to their efforts, soon after the Meiji period began in 1868, Japan had its first railways, banks, and apparently a dog-powered butter-making machine.

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These beer and cigarette poster from the Meiji and Showa periods will confuse and enchant you!

Perhaps one of the most fascinating things in the world is old photos. There’s something almost otherworldly about those 100-year-old photos of Japan, Japanese landscape, and Japanese people, as if we were looking back through a time-telescope. It doesn’t hurt that the photos, despite technological restrictions, also happen to be gorgeous! The same can be said for old Japanese advertising posters that show off a time and place few even remember.

Check out these 16 alcohol and cigarette posters below and try to remember: Just because the cool kids are doing it, that doesn’t mean you should! Cigarettes are still bad for your health.

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