YouTuber Restores Rare Footage of Kyoto, Japan in 1929 with Sound

The footage that Guy Jones used in his compilation comes from the University of South Carolina Moving Image Research Collections (MIRC), caretaker of the Fox Movietone News Collection, according to Global Voices.

 

Unlike in his previous restorations, the Kyoto 1929 rare footage already came with sound that was captured using Movietone cameras that were considered state-of-the-art during the time, the report noted.

The Movietone sound system was one of the four motion pictures that were under development in the United States during the 1920s. It is an “optical sound-on-film method of recording sound for motion pictures that guarantees synchronization between sound and picture.”

The compilation clip shows different scenes taken from Kyoto in that year, including a market scene where you can hear the wooden sandals that people wore back then; people chatting and playing instruments during a cherry blossom festival; girls wearing kimonos chatting and giggling as they play games; and a Shinto parade and activities, to name a few.

Featured image screenshot via YouTube / Guy Jones