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Celebrating an Imperial Anniversary in Ginza
Apr 13th, 2009 | By Shane Sakata | Category: Featured ArticlesThe past Saturday the Emperor and Empress of Japan celebrated 50 years of marriage. In honor of the occasion the front window of the Wako department store in Ginza held a photo retrospective of the royal couple through the years. The display held only five images but seemed to capture the spirit of the couple and their very public marriage.
Just over a year after meeting on a tennis court in Karuizawa, Nagano the couple announced their engagement and on April 10, 1959 a commoner name Michiko Shodo married her prince and became Crown Princess Michiko. On that day, the newly wed couple rode a carriage through the streets of Tokyo and were greeted by crowds of over 500,000 along an 8.8-km route and began their married life.
After thirty years of marriage, upon the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989, Crown Prince Akihito became Emperor Akihito and Michiko became the first Empress not of royal lineage. The couple has reigned in Japan for the the last twenty years and holds a special place in the heart of the Japanese people.
While this imperial photo collage may not be in the window of Ginza Wako for long, a stroll through the area is always a pleasant way to spend a weekend afternoon. Plan on a late start and wander the streets that are closed to pedestrians on weekend afternoons and stay until the neon signs light up the night. Ginza Wako can be found on this map of Ginza.
Read more about the Imperial Anniversary in The Japan Times.
Image Credit: Personal Collection
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Very nice photos. Good example of how a normally undesired reflection can sometimes be a great asset.
I leave a circular polarizer on my camera often to dial out reflections from glass, but this is a case where the result is dramatically improved by allowing the natural reflection to remain. I hope these images help me to remember that sometimes less technical manipulation in a shot is better.
Dan – thank you for you kinds words. These shots were taken with my old point and shoot camera as I wasn’t in the mood to lug around my Nikon DSLR that day. But even so, I was not aware that a circular polarizer could reduce the reflection so thanks for the tip!
I was quite concerned about the quality of the images and the reflection from the glass but decided to post them anyway as the display isn’t something that everyone would have the opportunity to see otherwise. One on the reflections that I thought was interesting and even a bit “artistic” was the crowd and streetlight in the bottom of the second image.
Thanks again for taking the time to stop by and comment.