Historical Photos:About
General
This section of somewherein.jp is intended to act as a resource catalogging historical photos from Japan. This site is created and run by David R Munson.
The majority of photos provided here are orphaned vernacular photography, largely sourced from junk shops, flea markets, and donations. These images are meant to illustrate daily life in Japan from the mid-19th century onward. For the sake of privacy, and to maintain a focus on older images, photos dating from about 1990 or later will not be added to the site.
An effort is being made to properly categorize, tag, and describe the images as well as possible, but this is difficult and time-consuming.
Want to Help?
If you have relevant knowledge and would like to assist with cataloging, tagging, etc, please send an email to david@somewherein.jp.
Financial Support
All of somewherein.jp, including the historical photos wiki, are a personal project of David R Munson. Web hosting costs money, and running everything takes time. If you'd like to help cover the cost of running the site, please send a donation by PayPal to david@somewherein.jp or use the donation link at the footer of any page at somewherein.jp. If you are in Japan and would like to make a donation by bank transfer, please email me for bank details.
Contribute Photographic Materials
If you'd like to contribute photographs to this project, there are a few ways to do this.
- Source and send photographic materials. If you have photographic materials (prints/negatives) on hand or want to purchase them (such as at a flea market), you can send them to me to be digitized and added to the site. After digitization, the originals can be added to the physical archive to remain with the permanent collection (with your name attached as donor), or they can be returned to you. At least for now, I ask that shipping costs be covered by contributors.
- Sponsor the acquisition of additional photographic materials. You can also make a donation specifically for the acquisition of additional materials. Any funds received for this purpose will be put specifically to use for acquiring additional historical prints and negatives. Donor names will be associated with all acquired materials. If making a donation for this purpose, please specify your request when sending payment.
- Submit digitized photographic materials. If you already have digitized materials that are not copyrighted, or have the means to digitize the materials yourself, I am also happy to take digital submissions for the site. Please get in touch and we can work out how best to transfer files, based on the size of the submission.
NB: Please ensure that any photographic materials you submit are either orphaned (original creators/owners not known) or that you have permission to submit them for publication here.
Supply or Sponsor Archival Materials
For the sake of preserving original materials as long as possible, they need to be stored properly. Archival materials (boxes, sleeves, etc) are not cheap, and financial support in this area is also greatly appreciated. If making a donation for this purpose, please specify your request when sending payment.
Help With Translation
At the time of setting up this section of the site (June 2025), My Japanese is getting better, but it is not up to the task of handling translations. In the long run, I want the site to be available in both English and Japanese. If you would like to either volunteer translation or help check machine translations, please get in touch.
Takedown Requests
If you are the owner of any copyrighted materials that have wound up on the site by accident, please email me at david@somewherein.jp with detailed information.
