Japanese stereoviews and more

An amazing set of Meiji era stereoviews by Japanese and Western stereo-photographers, assembled by Flickr user Okinawa Soba. I recommend checking out his other sets too, such as the T. Enami glass slides one. Pity of the all-caps shouting and the sometimes overly verbose descriptions, but nevertheless worth a look :-)

Goo's historic Tokyo maps

A while ago, Goo added an interesting twist to its online map service: historic aerial maps of Tokyo. In addition to satellite images of Tokyo, you can go back in time and see what the city looked like in Shōwa 22 (1947) and 38 (1963). The enormous transformation from a war-torn capital to the current-day crowded metropolis is absolutely mind-boggling. It's also worth pointing out that there is a new "Meiji" layer, which features cartographic data of the Meiji era, and puts the city's wards and boundaries in yet another perspective.