Clifton Karhu’s 1979 print is a dazzling time-capsule of Ginza in the late 1970s, weaving a quilt of its neon-lit landmarks against a deepening twilight sky. 🏙️🌃⏰🛍️🌐⌚
- Year & Edition: 1979 · Ed. of 100 (1/100) (titled, editioned & signed in pencil to plate).
- Medium: Woodblock.
- Dimensions: Image W: 53.00 cm × H: 39.50 cm; Sheet W: 60.50 cm × H: 44.50 cm.
- Condition: Colours remain intense and vibrant. General browning to the paper - more pronounced verso. Image otherwise unblemished.
- Notes:
- Wako/Hattori Clock Tower (和光・服部時計塔): The timeless symbol of Ginza rising at the center of the composition.
- Ginza Mitsukoshi (銀座三越): The venerable department store, its historic logo front and center.
- Morinaga Globe (銀座の地球儀): The postwar Morinaga confectionery globe that crowned the Nachi-Fujikoshi Building until 1983.
- Omega Boutique: The luxury watchmaker’s signature logo glimpsed amid the neon glow.
- San-Ai Dream Center (三愛ビル): The 1932 cylindrical corner landmark—then bearing Mitsubishi’s diamond emblem.
- Ginza Kyukyodo (鳩屋): The incense and stationery purveyor, identified by its dove-crested six-square emblem.
- Onkyo Signage: A flash of consumer-electronics branding hidden in the upper registers.
- Other Gems: Keep an eye out for AOR electronics and bank signs peeking through the urban tapestry.
This vibrant composition celebrates Ginza’s high-end dining, shopping and entertainment district in a single, electrifying vista - Karhu’s modernist homage to Tokyo’s most illustrious quarter.
