Restaurant, Ginza, Tokyo 

The scene depicted here is the restaurant on the second floor of the former Morinaga Candy Store in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The woman with the striking smile is Manuela del Rio, a famous Spanish dancer. The wallpaper is a photomontage (a method of combining multiple photos) designed by Horino Masao, who was Morinaga’s exclusive photographer at the time. The shop was at the cutting edge of fashion, and its innovative wallpaper was well known. Taken at a slight angle, and deliberately contrasting the large face on the wall with those of the customers, Kuwabara Kineo’s photograph exudes the dynamism and sense of modernity that prevailed in the store and throughout the city at the time.
From the pre-war to post-war period, Kuwabara specialized in sketch-like photographs of Tokyo, and this work is typical of his style.
(MATSUNAGA Shintaro)