Camera Taiyodo, Morimachi, Ofunato City
The image at Figure 1 is from an undated publication by the "Iwate Prefectural* Federation of Small Business Associations". According to the document properties (accessed via right click), the article was published in December 2017.
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* Japan is divided into 47 administrative divisions known as Prefectures, and Ofunato is in the Iwate Prefecture. The city became internationally famous when it was hit by a tsunami, caused by the Valdivia earthquake in Chile, on 22 May 1960.
The publication reads that -
Under the Directorship of Hidekatsu Sato, the company Camera Taiyodo Co Ltd opened a photography shop in Ofunato Town (Ofunato City) in 1958 (Showa 33).
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The shop was damage by the 1960 (Showa 35) tsunami and the business moved to Morimachi, Ofunato City. In 1996 (Heisei 8,) it opened a second store at Sanria Shopping Centre in Morimachi.
In March 2011 a Magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan, and the force caused a tsunami that wiped away entire towns and villages: 20,000 lives were lost.
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In the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 (Heisei 23), the main store was destroyed by the tsunami, and the shopping centre store destroyed by the earthquake. After the disaster, they bought used equipment from various places and resumed business at both the head office and the shopping centre store.
The business is described as photo development and printing, studio photography, ID photography, photo and video equipment, and sales of photography-related supplies. Most of the document is otherwise trivia.
The March 2011 tsunami damage to the main store is confirmed by "Cassie's 2012 Blog($)" and "Nippon Broadcasting Online News($)", which ran a 2017 follow-up story on the fate of the Camera Taiyodo store in Ofunato City. The latter reported that -
Mr. Sato (Hidekatsu) - 51 years old in 2011 - was the second generation owner, and his father had run a photo shop in Ofunato Town, which was washed away by the Chile earthquake and led to the opening of a new store in Morimachi. In 2011, the first floor of the main shop had been submerged in seawater, and all the equipment ruined, but nevertheless was re-opened two months later (see Figure 2).
If I have read this content correctly, it reports that Mr Sato spent that year cleaning mud from photos of the deceased, and then modify their everyday clothes into suits and kimonos.
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Due to the age of this establishment, it's high profile, and the Akasaka connection (mentioned by the staff at Chiyodo Camera Taiyodo, which was merged with neighbouring villages in 1952 to form the city of Ofunato), I'm inclined to believe this shop was a legitimate off-shoot of the original Camera Taiyodo.
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Camera of Taiyodo Mito City
Mito is the capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture. Another shop called Camera "of" Taiyodo was located at 3-4-21 Minami-cho (Figure 3). It specialised development/printing, and photo ID. The shop closed on 7th July 2017. According to "the Wayback Machine", the website was first captured in 2012.
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No other details are know, and I am un-sure what to make of this shop. Was it a legitimate arm of Chiyodo Camera Taiyodo? I suspect not!
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Camera Taiyodo Forest Photo Studio Katori City
Another Camera Taiyodo store is in Katori City, Chiba Prefecture (Figures 4&5). The store's website promotes printing including photobooks, image correction, photo ID, commercial photography, studio hire, and (OMG this is creepy) pre-death portraits. The page says ... "Let's have fun shooting with your favourite things, in your favourite outfit." The website was published in July 2017, has not been updated since, but the company appears to still be active today.
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This is another outlet which I am uncertain about. It doesn't "feel" like it has any genuine connection to Chiyoda Camera Taiyodo.
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Camera of Taiyodo Omachi City & Ueda, Nagano
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Here's another two. Omachi (Figure 6) was found via a Blog, and Ueda (Figure 7) through a search engine. I have been unable to establish any further information on either store. They do not have any online presence, which is far more in-keeping with the original Chiyodo shop ethos.
Figure 1 - Camera Taiyodo in Ofunato City. December 2017 article published by the Federation of Small Business Associations. Click the image to go to the full size document ($).
Figure 2 - Camera Taiyodo at Iwate Prefecture, Ofunato City, Morimachi Aza Uchinome 2-9, from Google Street View (July 2023). I can find no further information on, or images of, the shopping centre store.
Figure 3 - screenshot of the Camera "of" Taiyodo website in Mito City. Click on the image to go to the website ($).
Figure 4 - Camera Taiyodo Forest Photo Studio shop in Katori City from Google Street View (July 2023).
Figure 5 - screenshot of the Camera Taiyodo Forest Photo Studio website in Katori City. Click on the image to go to the website ($).
Figure 6 - Camera "of "Taiyodo store in Ocachi City, Nagano from Google Street View (July 2023). Click on the image to go to the Blog ($).
Figure 7 - Camera "of "Taiyodo store in Ueda, Nagano from Google Street View (July 2023).
