The holdings include a collection of picture postcards from the Meiji period to the Second World War. Thematically, these postcards refer to areas such as agriculture (including tea cultivation), mining, industry (steel & iron, aviation, automobiles, etc.), as well as historical events such as the 1914-15 German-Japanese War (over Tsingtao) and the prisoners of war during the First World War in Japan. Other historical focuses concern, for example, German and French aviation and their early connections to Japan, as well as topics related to the navy, etc. This collection has recently gained in importance due to the growing interest in visual information, as numerous publications based on picture postcards show.

Not only the images are of interest. The text of such postcards, their senders and addressees can also provide interesting insights.

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