1930s Vintage Japanese Travel Posters

We’ve all dreamed of visiting Japan at some stage or another. Maybe you already have. Maybe you’re Japanese and already there. Or maybe you’ve been waiting to lock your eyes onto these vintage beauties.

A reminder of a time before bullet trains, 24hr sushi, and enough giant flashing billboards to put Times Square to shame, these rare and largely unseen travel posters portray Japan at its most scenic. And they’re about to go up for auction.

Unearthed by a student raiding the contents of an antique shop bequeathed to him by an elderly aunt, the remarkable pieces of artwork, created in the woodblock tradition of Asian printmaking , were originally commissioned by the Japanese tourism bureau and rail agencies in the 1930s.

Up for sale at the Vintage Movie Posters Signature Auction in Dallas on 22 March, the pieces are expected to reach £600 and above - about the same price for a one-way flight to Tokyo, we imagine.

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Standing on Mountains (Nagoya Rail Agency)

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Mount Kumgang (Japanese Tourist Bureau)

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Autumn in Nagoya (Nagoya Tourism Bureau)

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Fields of Colour, Yamanashi Prefecture (Japanese Railways)

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Summer at Miho Peninsula (Nagoya Rail Agency)

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Sea Bathing in Obama, Fukui (Osaka and Nagoya Rail Agency)

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Chuba, Futamata (Nagoya Rail Agency)

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Hakusan, Ready to be Climbed (Nagoya Rail Agency)

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Kirishima, Kagoshim Prefecture, Retreat of Spirits (Japanese Rail)

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