About Us
Tadashi Yanagisawa founded Shashin Kosha in 1950. Leaving Fuji Film Company, Yanagisawa set up his own professional lab specializing in black & white prints for new Fuji products, as well as exhibition prints for Japanese photographers. Located in Kanda (a central Tokyo business district), Shashin Kosha incorporated a large shooting studio and photo lab into its headquarters building.
Shashin Kosha made big news with its huge groundbreaking color prints (20m X 30m) created for the Osaka Expo in 1970. Shashin Kosha received a special award for its achievements and contributions to photography in 1976 from the Japan Photographers Society (JPS). To this day, we are the only photo lab to ever receive the prestigious JPS award.
Since 1980, Shashin Kosha, in cooperation with JPS, the Tokyo Metropolitan Photo Museum, the Yokohama Museum, and the Kawasaki City Museum, has produced a special annual calendar, “A Collection of Photographs.” This calendar project is an ongoing effort to preserve and share the masterpieces of early Japanese photography from the Taisho and Showa Eras (1912 until 1945). We continue searching for unknown masters of Japanese photography for these finely printed calendars.
Shashin Kosha opened a new six-story company headquarters in Kanda in 1989, bringing our entire services together under one roof. That year we published a beautiful limited edition book of early Japanese photography from the calendar series, also entitled “A Collection of Photographs,” in celebration of our 40th anniversary.
In 1990 Takuji Yanagisawa became the second company president of Shashin Kosha. He continues the traditions begun by his father, and brings a deep appreciation of photography and art, as well as international understanding to Shashin Kosha. The company expanded in 1993, establishing a service center for Shashin Kosha labs in Tokyo’s famous Ginza district. The Ginza location also includes our ArtGraph Photo Gallery and ArtGraph Photo School.
Since 1995, Shashin Kosha has added digital services to its hi-quality black & white and color work. We pride ourselves on meeting every challenge of modern photography for our clients. Shashin Kosha’s company policy remains unchanged: to offer the best quality photo services, staying on top of technical innovations, while deepening our understanding of the wonderful creative culture of photography.