See Original Graph Paper Sketches That Became 'Super Mario Bros'

It's hard to imagine that, not very long ago, developers created video games with tools as rudimentary as a pencil and paper. But that's exactly what happened in Japan, where the original Super Mario Bros. was designed entirely by hand.

In a video from 2015, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and a longtime designer of the game, Takashi Tezuka, discuss the early days of the game in advance of the release of Super Mario Maker, a game that allows you to create and play your own Mario levels.

“Back in the day, we had to create everything by hand,” Tezuka explained via a translator. “To design courses, we would actually draw them one at a time on these sheets of graph paper. We'd then hand our drawings to the programmers, who would code them into a build.”

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The Surreal Photographs by Kansuke Yamamoto, the Pioneer of Japanese Surrealist Photography

In the act of appropriating the political voice and thematic structure of European Surrealism and melding it with uniquely Japanese subjects, Kansuke Yamamoto (1914–1987) deeply influenced the development of Japanese Surrealism, and became a singularly important figure in the history of Japanese photography.

Yamamoto’s images offer a fascinating insight into an isolationist culture that was at the time largely inaccessible to Western inquiry, and while his elaborate and poetic images can inspire an emotional response even in the absence of context, in order to critically appreciate his work it is important to understand the cultural and political climate of Japan during his lifetime.

“Artwork comes out of some disobedient spirit against readymade things of society. ... Pure spirit should be a proactive spirit that attracts a new generation. ... Rebellion against each generation and the reformation of a generation is our purpose.” – Kansuke Yamamoto

Self-portrait, 1950.

A photograph by Kansuke Yamamoto, 1950.

‘Stapled Flesh,’ 1949.

‘Thin Aired Room,’ 1956.

‘A Peculiar Grounding,’ 1956.

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42 Amazing Colorized Pictures That Show Everyday Life of Japan in the 19th Century

Felice Beato (1832-1909) was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the Mediterranean region.

Beato's travels gave him the opportunity to create images of countries, people, and events that were unfamiliar and remote to most people in Europe and North America. His work provides images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War, and represents the first substantial body of photojournalism.

In 1863, he arrives in Yokohama, in Japan, in a country that is still closed to Westerners and lives under feudal rules. He rapidly begins to represent the country’s inhabitants and landscapes with the help of the draftsman, Charles Wirgman who teaches him aquarelle photography.

Beato influenced other photographers, and his influence in Japan, where he taught and worked with numerous other photographers and artists, was particularly deep and lasting.

Here below is an amazing colorized photo collection that Beato shot when he was in japan in the second half of the 19th century.

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Breathtaking Colorized Photos Show the Horror of the War in the Pacific During World War II

Stunning photos of the US Army during the War in the Pacific have been brought to life through vivid colorization. The breathtaking images capture the perils of war, from men being stretchered away to hospital to soldiers fighting at Okinawa.

From December 1941 to September 1945, war raged on across Asia and the Pacific. The conflict, which led to around 36 million casualties, was a turning point in World War II. The unexpected Japanese air strike on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 triggered the USA’s involvement in the Second World War.

On December 8, America declared war on Japan, along with the other Allied nations.

Royston Leonard, from Cardiff, Wales, is the man who brought these photos to life. “The Japanese code was to not surrender and to fight to the death which was their way to die in battle with honour, almost no prisoners were taken unless they were badly injured and could no longer fight,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of photos of the European war in color but almost nothing from the Pacific War.”

US soldiers of the 7th Infantry Division attacking a Japanese blockhouse on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in 1944. The troops began capturing the islands by landing their forces on the beaches.

U.S. Marines firing an M1919 Browning machine gun during the fighting on the island of Peleliu. These .30 caliber weapons were typically used during World War II.

An Avenger aircraft from the squadron VT-26, after engine failure and a catapult mishap on board the aircraft carrier USS Bataan CVE-29. March 13, 1944.

Spectators from all over the world pick vantage positions on the deck of the USS Missouri, in Tokyo Bay in September 1945, to watch the Japanese surrender ceremony marking the end of World War II.

U.S. Army soldiers on Bougainville, an island in Papua New Guinea, taking cover behind an M4 Sherman tank in February 1943.

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Japanese Interned Mother Holding Her Baby Sleeping Daughter and an Emotional Story Behind The Picture in 1942

Born 1911, Japanese-American activist Fumiko Hayashida became one of the first Japanese Americans to be interned in March 1942.

In a photo that became a symbol of a painful chapter in U.S. history, Fumiko Hayashida, who was 31 years old at the time, holds her sleeping 13-month-old daughter, Natalie, while waiting to board a ferry from Bainbridge Island to the mainland with other Japanese American internees.

Hayashida was interned for a year at Manzanar before being moved to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho to be closer to relatives and friends.

(Left) Fumiko Hayashida, 31, carries her daughter Natalie Kayo, 13 months, prepares to board the ferry at Bainbridge Island, Wa. on March 30, 1942. (Right) Fumiko Hayashida, 95, and her daughter Natalie Ong, 66, photographed July 20, 2006.

THEN: Fumiko Hayashida, 31, carries her daughter Natalie Kayo, 13 months, as she prepares to board the ferry at Bainbridge Island, Wa. on March 30, 1942.

Hayashida was among a large group of Japanese Americans who were taken by armed soldiers to the Manzanar Internment Camp in California after Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 19, 1942. She arrived at Manzanar by train on April 1, 1942.

(Photo Credit: Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry).

A symbol picture of a painful chapter in U.S. history, Fumiko Hayashida, among first Japanese American internees, holds her sleeping daughter in March 1942 as they waited to be sent to an internment camp.

NOW: Fumiko Hayashida, 95, and her daughter Natalie Ong, 66, photographed July 20, 2006 on the family farm from which they had been evacuated on Bainbridge Island, Wa.

(Photograph by Paul Kitagaki, Jr.)

Fumiko Hayashida, 95, and her daughter Natalie Ong, 66, photographed July 20, 2006

In 2006, Hayashida testified in favor of a proposed memorial for Japanese American internees on Bainbridge Island before a U.S. congressional committee. The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial was opened in 2011.

In 2014, Fumiko Hayashida dies at 103.

The Early Postwar Occupation of Japan: 50 Amazing Photos That Capture Everyday Life of Tokyo in 1945-46

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration (the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender). The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth.

Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan. This foreign presence marked the only time in Japan's history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. The country became a parliamentary democracy that recalled "New Deal" priorities of the 1930s by Roosevelt.

The occupation, codenamed Operation Blacklist, was ended by the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, and effective from April 28, 1952, after which Japan's sovereignty – with the exception, until 1972, of the Ryukyu Islands – was fully restored.

These amazing photos from m20wc51 that captured everyday life of Tokyo in the early Postwar Occupation of Japan in 1945 and 1946.

Tokyo street scene

Tokyo street scene

Traffic jam

Ueno Station

Ueno Toshogu Torii

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44 Beautiful Photos That Show Everyday Life of Japan in the Early 1950s

These color photos from Leonora (Ellie) Enking were taken by his father Bill Enking that show everyday life of Japan sometime between 1950-52, when he lived there.

Boats used by cormorant fishers on Nagara River, Gifu

Cormorant baskets and a fishing boat in Gifu

Paper ornaments, Gifu

Ashinoko seen from a boat

 Life in Hakone

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Beautiful Photos That Capture Japanese Young Girls on the Streets of Tokyo in the Early 1970s

“Street fashion” is the sense of style of creative people who take all sorts of information (from music, sports, fashion, and the like) and express their personal values through their outfits.

The 1970s was the first time that young people embraced a sense of communal solidarity as a generation and joined together in opposition to adults. The decade marked the start of street fashion in Japan, and the latter half of the 1970s was a time when young people renounced the values of earlier generations and took a confrontational stance towards them, advocating new styles.

These beautiful photos from Nick Dewolf photo archive captured portraits of Japanese girls on Tokyo's streets from 1971 to 1973.

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41 Color Snapshots That Capture Everyday Life of Japan during the Postwar Era

These amazing photos from petethepunk1 were taken by Norm Olson who worked for Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church in post-war Japan, from 1951 to 1955.

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28 Lovely Found Photos That Capture Everyday Life of Japanese Kids in the 1950s

A bunch of scans of found slides from Vintage Japan-esque that capture everyday life of Japanese kids in the 1950s. Random stuff like kids fashion, kids toys, the seashore, cars, trains, signs, etc.

Two boys playing ice hockey

Two boys throwing rocks and a girl looking at the camera on a shore in Japan

Two children in Japanses traditional fashion

Two Japanese kids (one with a baseball glove, one with a bat) wearing Yomiuri Giants caps

Two Japanese kids in Yomiuri Giants caps and one in a stroller

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The Faces of Domestic Human Trafficking: Hand-Colored Photos of Caged Prostitutes in Japan From the Late 19th Century

Welcome to the world of Japanese domestic human trafficking of young girls and women for the sole purpose of sexual slavery.

Many documents of the day simply call them "inmates" or "prisoners" of the red-light districts where they worked and lived.

As for the Japanese Government, they were quite proud of the nation's brothels, and often remarked on the "civilized" way Japan had contained and controlled these places of "necessary evil", with little or no consideration for the women and children that were the 24-hour-a-day target of men from both Japan and around the world.

Originally sold by their parents into the sex trade while they were children, they began as servants and then assistants to the older prostitutes. Over the years, they were trained by degree, initiated as to what to expect, and "got down to business" shortly after puberty, probably no later than 13 or 14.

Kids who were not deemed "attractive enough", or who lacked whatever "sex appeal" a 13-year-old was expected to have in Japan at that time, continued on in the brothel district as drudges, servants, and go-fers for all the rest.

There were the occasional women who did enter as "adults" --- for example, a women of the Samurai class might be sent to the brothels for a set term of years (three to five) by way of punishment for some grave moral lapse or gross indiscretion.

All of these "inmates" --- the young and the old --- would get traded around between brothels (via a complicated system of protocols between the owners) in order to keep things "New" and "Fresh" for paying customers.

Life was generally not a bowl of cherries for these girls; disease, botched abortions, and higher suicide rates took their toll. Their lot in life was also the subject of many a tragic romance that played out in books and on the stage.

Possibly to appease certain Western sensitivities, the younger prostitutes were generally not photographed for images like this that were sold to foreigners in the photo and souvenir shops. However, prostitutes who still appear to be in their "childhood years" [12-14] are occasional seen.

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