Past Exhibitions

 For more detailed information, please see the following page (in Japanese) .

This year marks the passage of 110 years since the inaugural edition of Japan’s first film magazine, Katsudoshashinkai (1909), as well as the centennial of Kinema Junpo (1919), a publication that remains in existence today. To commemorate the occasion, the National Film Archive of Japan is presenting an exhibition spotlighting the rich history of Japanese film magazines. It is planned as a follow-up to a 2015 exhibition titled The Discreet Charm of Film Books that focused on movie books.
Over the years since cinema’s arrival as a new form of visual media in the late Meiji era (1868-1912), countless magazines have arisen in step with the industry’s development. Among them are general magazines covering a broad range of topics, fan magazines devoted to stars and studios, critical magazines providing a venue for cinematic discussion, trade magazines reporting on production and box-office trends, and professional journals focused on specific topics. Open any one of them, regardless of when it was published, and you will undoubtedly recognize and appreciate its readers’ love of cinema, its writers’ passion for their subject, and its editors’ aspirations.
Today, as the internet greatly changes how information is communicated, film magazines are reaching a turning point. However, though transforming in various ways, the roles and styles they have acquired over the years remain distinctly alive. Our exhibition presents Japanese film magazines of all types and descriptions, ranging from the Meiji and Taisho eras to more modern times. We hope that by exposing visitors to the history of film magazines, which are simultaneously embodiments of our ancestors’ passions and products of repeated trial and error, it will provide an opportunity for many to rediscover the enchanting qualities of film.