[VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM OF AN AFRICAN- AMERICAN UNITED STATES ARMY SOLDIER STATIONED IN TOKYO IN THE EARLY 1960s]

[Tokyo and surroundings, ca. 1960].. 186 mounted photographs and postcards on [32] leaves, plus eleven loose photographs and five printed flyers. Images vary from 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches to 10 x 7 1/2 inches. Quarto photograph album. Original green velvet with origami crane stitched in gilt on front board, a.e.g. Boards lightly rubbed and stained. Album leaves almost entirely loose from binding, several photographs loosely laid in. The images themselves very crisp and clean. An album of charming vernacular photographs assembled by a young African-American soldier on a United States Army base near Tokyo in the period between the Korean and Vietnam wars. The majority of the photos are impromptu portraits or scenes from camp life, depicting the soldier and his diverse group of White, Asian-American, and African- American comrades. Many of the soldiers are identified by a surname written in ink on the photograph, and a number of the images show soldiers of different races associating together. In addition to pictures of himself and his friends, our photographer has captured a number of Japanese tourist scenes including the Kamakura Daibutsu, zen gardens around the city, festivals and processions, nature scenes, and more. Laid into the rear of the album are a number of smaller personal or family photos, with some identifying notes, including an ink note on one labelled "me" (the same person appears in many of the military photos in the album). There are also a few flyers for Tokyo nightclubs and a handful of names and addresses for soldiers in his unit. An interesting look at the daily life of American soldiers in Japan in the early '60s.