Sources: Japanese language

Kokusan kamera no rekishi

Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10〜40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. (Template:Showa10 and inline Template:Kokusan)

This informative book is well described by its title. It is a large hardback in a slipcase, priced at ¥13,000 and now (2006) out of print. It is edited by a team of twenty (listed and described on the very last page), headed by Sakai Shūichi (酒井修一).

Between well-illustrated introductory material and informative appendices and an index, the main content of the book is divided into two. The bulkier of these runs from p. 57 to p. 332. This in turn is divided by decade: 1935–"45" (until the end of the war), 1945–55, and 1956–65. Within each of these decades, reduced-size reproductions of advertisements are presented of cameras ordered by their names. This order is the conventional Japanese one (a, i u, e, o; ka, ki, ku, ke, ko; . . . wa; n.). The second large section runs from p. 333 to p. 419; in compact type (three columns of text on each page), the book briefly describes 1,851 cameras and the incidence of publicity for them in Japanese photo magazines. Photographs are provided here for cameras made only for export and some other obscure models for which no advertisements could be found. (For a very few cameras, there is no advertisement or photograph.) For the typical item, however, the number is also that of one or more advertisements in the preceding section.

Aside from some slogans and decorative phrases within the advertisements themselves, the entire content of this book is in Japanese. There is no romanized index in which readers might look up, say, "Nikon F"; instead, they must look up ニコンF. The book therefore might bemuse and even fascinate somebody who cannot read Japanese, but such a person wanting to look up something within it would probably soon give up in frustration.

This book also contains the reproduction of a document published in Asahi Camera January 1941, giving the list of the official prices for Japanese cameras and titled 国産写真機の公定価格 (Official price of the Japanese cameras). (Template:Kakaku1940 and inline Template:Kakaku1940 short)

Zunō kamera tanjō

Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari (ズノーカメラ誕生：戦後国産カメラ10物語, The birth of the Zunow camera: Ten stories of postwar Japanese camera makers). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1999. ISBN 4-257-12023-1 (Template:Zunow10)

Ten chapters, each about a single camera maker or camera and each previously published in the quarterly Kamera rebyū Kurashikku kamera senka (カメラレビュー・クラシックカメラ専科; below, "KKS"). This book contains a considerable amount of original research, as Hagiya interviews the surviving designers and other people closely connected with the companies, and presents photographs of prototypes, etc.

The chapters are about:

1. Zunow (from KKS 6, September 1985)
2. Topcon RE Super (from KKS 9, March 1987)
3. Arco 35 (from KKS 16, October 1990)
4. Norita 66 (from KKS 18, October 1991)
5. Aires (from KKS 22, September 1992)
6. Amano 66 (from KKS 26, September 1993)
7. Takane (from KKS 27, December 1993)
8. Ofuna (from KKS 39, September 1996)
9. Kowa (from KKS 40, December 1996)
10. Makina 67 (from KKS 48, December 1998)

The book is now (2006) out of print.

Supuringu kamera de ikou

Kawamata Masataku (川又正卓), Yamazaki Shōichi (山嵜省一) et al. Supuringu kamera de ikou: Zen 69 kishu no shōkai to tsukaikata (スプリングカメラでいこう：全69機種の紹介と使い方, Let's try spring cameras: Introduction to and use of 69 machines). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppan-sha, 2004. ISBN 4879560723.

This book presents 69 models of folding cameras. Each camera is typically covered in two pages, with one general picture, various smaller detail pictures and a couple of sample photos. Among these articles, 36 were already published in the magazine Shashin Kōgyō, and the remainder were specially written.

This book also contains an appendix with tables reproducing the data from a document dated 1944 and titled 国産写真機ノ現状調査 (Inquiry into Japanese cameras). It presents in a condensed way all the Japanese camera production as of April 1943. (Template:Inquiry1943 and inline Template:Inquiry1943 short)

The book is entirely in Japanese except the model names written in Roman letters in some captions.

The book is now (August 2006) in print.

Exhibition catalogues of the JCII Camera Museum

The JCII Camera Museum is a small museum in central Tokyo. Its English-language website is here. Like most Japanese exhibition catalogues, these lack ISBNs and are not available other than from the museum itself. A number of the catalogues, even for past exhibitions, are available from the museum; they are described (in Japanese) here, but this page seems to presume that anyone interested would be living in Japan and would order via fax.

• Nihon no kamera – Tanjō kara konnichi made (日本のカメラ・誕生から今日まで, Japanese cameras, from the birth to the present day). Tokyo: Nihon Kamera Hakubutsukan (日本カメラ博物館, Japan camera museum), 1989.
• Omoide no supuringu-kamera-ten (思い出のスプリングカメラ展, Exhibition of beloved self-erecting cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992.
• Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992.
• Nihon no kamera o omoshiroku shita kyōshū no burando ten (日本のカメラを面白くした郷愁のブランド展, Exhibition of nostalgic brands that made Japanese cameras interesting). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1997.
• Kamera no mekanizumu sono I: "Hai! Chīzu" Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten (カメラのメカニズム・そのⅠ・「ハイ！チーズ」瞬間をとらえ続けるシャッター展, Camera mechanism, part 1 "Cheese!" Exhibition of instant taking shutters). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2002.
• Olympus-ten (オリンパス展, Olympus exhibition). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2005.
• Konika-Minoruta-ten (コニカミノルタ展, Konica Minolta exhibition). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2005.

See also

See also separate pages on periodicals:

• Ars Camera
• Asahi Camera
• Camera Mainichi
• Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka
• Nippon Camera
• Sankei Camera
• Shashin Bunka
• Shashin Shinpō
• Sunday Mainichi