Over the past six months, I've been visiting a few Tokyo flea markets looking for vintage found photos, mostly from the 1930s to the 1950s. I've never come across anything pre-1900 though. Fortunately, Nagasaki University has access to a fantastic collection of early Japanese photography from 1860-1899, and has built a searchable online database for public access.

One of the best things I've bought all year: my new Fuji Instax Mini 30 instant camera. It takes mini instant photos that develop in about three minutes, has a self-timer, close-far focus button and flash. My only complaint is that you can't make the flash *not* fire in low light conditions.

An oldie but a goodie - this article from WebMonkey describes ways of producing interesting and odd effects with ordinary 35mm film and polaroids.

Now available at the very cool Aoyama Book Center is the new Pop 9 toy lomo camera. You can also pick up an original Lomo, Holga, Polga (Holga with Polaroid film holder) and a number of other toy cameras while you're there!