You are cordially invited to the following lecture at the European Institute at Sophia University:

Title: Early Meiji Japan through Austrian Lenses. The adventurous life and journeys of the photographer Michael Moser.

Lecturer: Alfred Moser

Language: English (no translation)

No registration required, admission free

17:20-19:00, October 21st, 2019

Room 921, 9th Floor, Sophia Central Library



In this lecture OStR. Prof. Mag. Alfred Moser will talk about his grandfather, the photographer Michael Moser (1853-1912), who from humble beginnings as a peasant boy in the Austrian province became a photographer and interpreter for the Japanese government and even met the Japanese emperor in the early Meiji-Period.

His life reads like an adventure novel. He came to Japan in 1869, only 16 years old, as an assistant to the famous photographer Wilhelm Burger, but lost this position under mysterious circumstances and stayed alone in Japan. Without any knowledge of the Japanese language and without any money he not only managed to survive but also made a career as a photographer and interpreter in the service of the Japanese government.

Apart from his adventurous life his photos are important documents of life in early Meiji Japan as well as influential on the image of Japan in the West.

OStR. Prof. Mag. Alfred Moser born 1948, studied Chemistry and Physics in Vienna and taught both subjects in secondary schools as well as at the University of Vienna. Recently Alfred Moser has published the book Von Aussee nach Japan. Die abenteuerlichen Reisen 1867-1877 des Fotografen Michael Moser. (2019). A Japanese version had already appeared in 2016 (明治初期日本の原風景と謎の少年写真家 ) co-authored by Peter Pantzer and translated by Nana Miyata. Alfred Moser is also co-editor, again with Peter Pantzer and Nana Miyata, of Eine Schatztruhe der frühen Meiji Zeit. Michael Moser und seine photographischen Arbeiten aus Japan (2019). Apart from the books about his grandfather he is author of four textbooks on chemistry.



This lecture is organized by the European Institute at Sophia University

Central Library, Room 721B, 7th floor, Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus
7-1 Kioi-Cho, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan
http://dept.sophia.ac.jp/is/ei/en/