Saturday, April 18, 2020

Sad News for VAOJ and Many Others: Tenbun Closing - Leading to a Week of Intensive Photography and Salvage Ethnography


The tachinomiya Tenbun has closed. Tenbun has been an important research subject and site for me for the last several years. And my personal history with the shop goes back over 22 years. I can't thank Tencho, shop employees and regular customers enough for their service, friendship and teaching me so much about Japanese culture.

For more background:

Photo Exhibition and Visual Ethnography - "Tachinomiya: There Are Two Sides to Every Noren"

"Tachinomiya" Photo Exhibition and Visual Ethnography: The First Week

"Tachinomiya" - A Successful and Memorable Photo Exhibition/Event/Research Method

AJJ Presentation - Tachinomiya: Photo Exhibition as Research Method

「Tachinomiya: Photo Exhibition as Post-Fieldwork Encounter」- Society for East Asian Anthropology Regional Conference 2019 in Tokyo

For now, here are a few shots from the last few days as I continue to deal with my shock and sorrow. More to come in the near future.


"Tencho I."


Notification of closing (rough translation from the Japanese):

Thank you for visiting us regularly. We feel sorry to announce this but we are closing the shop on March 28th, 2020. For 40 years we have really appreciated your support. We hope you understand it was a really difficult decision for us. Until then, our shop will be open as usual. It will be a short time until then but we hope you can visit us.


"Tencho II."


Messages of thanks and gratitude from customers.


One of the first shots I took a couple of years ago for the photo exhibition. It seems appropriate here...

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