Tokyo, Fall of 1945 [Tokyo Senkyuhakuyonjugo-nen aki]
Tokyo, Japan: Bunka-Sha, Inc., 1946. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. Unpaginated (approximately 70 pages). Format is approximately 10.25 inches by 7.25 inches. Black and White Illustrations. Cover has wear and soiling. Most of the text is in Japanese, but there is some English language narrative and photo captions. This is a photoessay on the immediate post-surrender situation in Tokyo and the initial recovery signs. During the war Kimura worked as photographic editor of magazine 'Front' which quickly renamed itself 'Company of Culture (Bunka-sha)' after the surrender. The present was it's first publication. The 'forward' is rich in metaphor: "The cause of the disease was deeper than expected and had laid hidden within the body for a long time. It was clear to anyone that this necessitated a big surgical operation. And then in the summer of 1945, a surgical operation of great proportion was effected in the presence of many witnesses... Tokyo today is still convalescent. She is still far from being called a metropolis, but has taken her first unsteady step after having undergone treatments such as continuous injections and blood tranfusions. The scars of her surgical operation is still fresh...". Black markets, GIs & Jeeps, queues, returning soldiers, cereals being grown at Nihonbashi, and scars everywhere... this is a superb document from beginning to end. More