"University of Michigan New Digital Image Collections in Japanese Studies"

Announcement from H-Japan:

University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service (DLPS) has completed 3 new digital image collection projects in Japanese studies. These collections are open to the public for educational and research purposes.

Brower Fund Collection: Playing Cards:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/brower1ic

Alfred Hussey Collection: Japan's Constitution Slides: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/hussey1ic

Alfred Hussey Collection: Japan's Constitution Photo Album: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/hussey2ic

See also the UM Digital Library Production Service (DLPS) for all of their on-line resources: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/lib/colllist/

Announcement: 2013 Visual Documentary Project - SE ASIA

Announcement from H-ASIA:

For more information: http://sea-sh.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/visual-documentary-project-2013/

Local Matsuri V: くわしく

References:

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei, posted August 1, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri IV: People, posted August 2, 2013.

Local Matsuri IV: People

While photographers recognize that a subject’s uncertainty about the use of a picture is often the source of interactional tension, they are for the most part sufficiently confident about the harmlessness of their photographing (to subjects) or its importance (to themselves, or to “public information”) and sufficiently interested in carrying on doing it that consent is not so much to be reckoned with among subjects as dispensed with (Henderson 1988: 92).

I like a bit of privacy myself, especially when it is so scarce a commodity these days. But I never take embarrassing pictures of people on the street and I always try and respect them, communicate with them and share my photos with them if I can. Japanese people are on the whole very cool with this. And if they don’t want their picture taken, 95 times out of 100 they just turn the other way (Goodrich, September 22, 2009).

It’s not easy taking photos of people in public that you don’t know. This is the challenge of street photography. One might ask what is the purpose of such an endeavor? To capture interesting characters and/or representatives of Japanese culture? Does this really add to the sociology of Japan?

It was my intention to walk around the matsuri and take pictures of people enjoying the festival. I especially wanted to photograph people wearing brightly colored summer yukata. I found, however, that people were busy having fun and I didn’t feel right interrupting them. I did ask a few yukata-clad women if I could photograph them but they all refused. And I understood. After all, who was this foreign guy with a camera, and what would he be doing with the pictures? As I walked slowly through the masses I felt as if I was some sort of perverse voyeur stalking prey.

But once again the mixed blessing of being a foreigner kicked in. People began calling out to me in simple English and were surprised when I responded in Japanese. During these short/fun interactions I asked if I could take their photographs and they answered by flashing the peace sign along with a big smile. Some people wanted to take my picture (as if I were some sort of celebrity?).

I also found I could take pictures of people working at food stalls if I bought something. People were also willing to be photographed if I asked a question about the festival or had an extended conversation with them.

For the visual anthropologist a bit of street photography might be an early phase of fieldwork. The camera can be a tool for creating interactions and building rapport. And of course the photographs are data, and a good source for reciprocity (giving photos to the people you photograph). Visual anthropology is all about long-term collaboration and negotiation in the areas of privacy and representation. But perhaps we are getting too serious here (when you do want to get serious, click here for more on the ethics of public photography in Japan). We shouldn’t lose sight of the topic, the Local Matsuri. We have enjoyed the mikoshi, the evening activities, the food and now let’s enjoy the people.

The next post completes this VAOJ arc - Local Matsuri V: くわしく.

References:

Goodrich, Alfie. Japanorama Blog. "Faces of Tokyo: street photography in the megalopolis." Posted on September 22, 2009. http://japanorama.co.uk/2009/09/22/faces-of-tokyo-street-photography-in-the-megalopolis/

Henderson, Lisa. "Access and consent in public photography." Image ethics: The moral rights of subjects in photographs, film and television (1988): 91-107.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei, posted August 1, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Ethics of Visual Anthropology in Japan - Part Seven: The Guidelines, posted February 13, 2009.

Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei

I could justify this post by claiming the importance of the research of food in anthropology with examples like the following:

The study of food and eating has a long history in anthropology, beginning in the nineteenth century with Garrick Mallery and William Robertson Smith... We contend that the study of food and eating is important both for its own sake since food is utterly essential to human existence (and often insufficiently available) and because the subfield has proved valuable for debating and advancing anthropological theory and research methods. Food studies have illuminated broad societal processes such as political-economic value-creation, symbolic value-creation, and the social construction of memory. Such studies have also proved an important arena for debating the relative merits of cultural and historical materialism vs. structuralist or symbolic explanations for human behavior, and for refining our understanding of variation in informants' responses to ethnographic questions (Mintz and Du Bois 2002).

For more contemporary examples of the research of food one could check out the Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition blog.

But to be honest I am posting about Tamago Senbei because not only is it a popular snack at the Local Matsuri, it is one of my favorites...

Who can resist a shrimp cracker topped with okonomiyaki sauce, crunchy tempura refuse (tenkasu), mayonnaise and a heart shaped egg - all for only 200 yen. At this stall there was a lottery of sorts; if you chose a certain number you could get 2 or even 3 eggs.

Hungry?

Still want more of the Local Matsuri? The next VAOJ post features Local Matsuri IV: People.

References:

FoodAnthropology, Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition. http://foodanthro.com/tag/anthropology-of-food/

Mintz, Sidney W. and Christine M. Du Bois, The Anthropology of Food. In Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 31: 99-119, October 2002.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.