{{short description|Japanese photography magazine}} {{nihongo|'''''Asahi Camera'''''|アサヒカメラ|Asahi kamera}} was a Japanese monthly photographic magazine,<ref>While "Asahi" was consistently written in ''kanji'' (viz. {{nihongo2|朝日}}) for the newspaper title, the titles of most of the publisher's other periodicals and imprints, and the publisher's name itself, the Japanese title of ''Asahi Camera'' was consistently in ''katakana.''</ref> published from April 1926 until July 2020,<ref name=PhotoGuideJapan>{{cite news |author=Philbert Ono|title=Asahi Camera mag ceasing publication|url=https://photojpn.org/news/2020/06/asahi-camera-mag-ceasing-publication/|accessdate=13 June 2020|work=PhotoGuide Japan|date=2 June 2020}}</ref> when it was discontinued due to declining circulation.<ref>[https://publications.asahi.com/news/1385.shtml 『アサヒカメラ』休刊のお知らせ] (Notice of cessation of ''Asahi Camera''), Asahi Shinbunsha, June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020</ref>
==History and profile== The first issue was that for April 1926.<ref>During the twentieth century, Japanese monthly magazines routinely came out in the month before the cover date, or even the month before that.</ref><ref name=far>{{cite book|title=The Far East and Australasia 2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LclscNCTz9oC&pg=PA625|accessdate=30 April 2016|year=2002|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-1-85743-133-9|page=626}}</ref> It was from the outset published by Asahi Shimbun-sha, publisher of the newspaper ''The Asahi Shimbun.'' The headquarters was in Tokyo.<ref name="far"/>
From the January 1941 issue, it merged with the magazines ''Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyū'' ({{nihongo2|芸術写真研究}}, "Technique Photograph Studies") and ''Shōzō Shashin Kenkyū'' ({{nihongo2|肖像写真研究}}, "Portrait Photograph Studies"). Publication was suspended with the April 1942 issue.
Publication resumed after the Second World War with the October 1949 issue. Its cover employed a monochrome portrait of a girl by Ihei Kimura, who would become a major contributor.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:80%;" align="right" |+''For much of the period 1962–85, the job of photographing the cover was given to a single photographer for four or more consecutive months.<ref>"Hyōshi ni miru ''Asahi Kamera'' no rekishi" ({{nihongo2|表紙にみるアサヒカメラの歴史}}, "The history of ''Asahi Camera'' as seen in its covers"), ''Asahi Camera,'' April 2006, pp. 233–44.</ref>'' |- ! Year !! Months !! Photographer |- | 1962 | Jan–Dec || Kichisaburō Anzai |- | 1963 | Jan–Dec || Masaaki Imamura |- | rowspan="3" |1964 | Jan–Apr || Noriaki Yokosuka |- | May–Aug || Naoya Sugiki |- | Sep–Dec || Hiroki Hayashi |- | rowspan="3" | 1965 | Jan–Apr || Hideki Fujii |- | May–Aug || Hiroshi Nagaoka |- | Sep–Dec || Toshio Tateishi |- | rowspan="3" | 1966 | Jan–Apr || Masaaki Nishimiya |- | May–Aug || Shigeji Asano |- | Sep–Dec || Kazumi Kurigami |- | 1967–8 | colspan="2" | not applicable |- | 1969 | Jan–Dec || Kazumi Kurigami |- | 1970 | Jan–Dec || Daidō Moriyama |- | 1971 | Jan–Dec || Umihiko Konishi |- | 1972 | Jan–Dec || Kishin Shinoyama |- | 1973 | Jan–Dec || Yutaka Takanashi |- | 1974 | Jan–Dec || Akira Satō |- | 1975 | Jan–Dec || Hajime Sawatari |- | 1976 | Jan–Dec || Shin Yanagisawa |- | 1977 | Jan–Dec || Shunji Ōkura |- | 1978 | colspan="2" | not applicable |- | 1979 | Jan–Dec || Akira Satō |- | 1980 | Jan–Dec || Takamasa Inamura |- | 1981 | Jan–Dec || Kōichi Inakoshi |- | rowspan="2" | 1982 | Jan–Jun || Bishin Jūmonji |- | Jul–Dec || Noriaki Yokosuka |- | 1983 | Jan–Dec || Hajime Sawatari |- | 1984 | colspan="2" | not applicable |- | 1985 | Jan–Dec || Hajime Sawatari |}
''Asahi Camera'' attempted to satisfy interests in all areas of photography, with short portfolios in monochrome and color by established and new photographers (most but not all of them Japanese), contests for readers, articles about technique, and (accounting for much of the magazine's bulk) news and tests of equipment. The April 2006 issue, for example, had over four hundred pages (many of them advertising, but the great majority editorial) with five or more pages devoted to work by each of ten photographers, the announcement of the latest Kimura Ihei Award, articles about equipment (new, old and even future), contests, and much else.
Even if one considers only its uninterrupted years of publication, from 1949, ''Asahi Camera'' was the oldest surviving Japanese photography magazine. Like any magazine that attempts to satisfy people with very different interests, it was sometimes criticized for not serving any of them particularly well, but its equipment reviews appeared to be as rigorous as any and it continued to attract some of the best photographers for its portfolios. Like many photographic magazines, many of its covers somehow happened to show conventionally attractive young women (sometimes nude), and the overall impression it gave was unadventurous, but daring was a rare commodity in the Japanese magazine market and ''Asahi Camera'' did display work that cannot be regarded as at all commercial.
Since the demise of ''Camera Mainichi'' in 1985, the only rival as a magazine attempting to cater for all photographic interests became ''Nippon Camera.''
From its 1926 start until around 1932, in addition to the ''katakana'' title, the magazine was prominently titled in English, ''Asahi Camera: The Japanese Journal of Photography''. A shortened version, ''Asahi Camera'', continued as an alternative title until late in the twentieth century<!-- don't know when offhand; must check --> but then was written "<small>ASAHICAMERA</small>".
== Internationally == {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2026}} ''Asahi Camera'' was also published in the US around the late 2000s. It was possibly retired in 2020.
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{in lang|ja}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517075254/http://opendoors.asahi.com/data/detail/7293.shtml Publisher's site] *[http://photojpn.org/books/mags/asahi.html Dealer's description]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Asahi Camera}} Category:1926 establishments in Japan Category:1942 disestablishments in Japan Category:1949 establishments in Japan Category:2020 disestablishments in Japan Category:Asahi Shimbun Company Category:Defunct magazines published in Japan Category:Magazines established in 1926 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1942 Category:Magazines established in 1949 Category:Magazines disestablished in 2020 Category:1941 mergers and acquisitions Category:Magazines published in Tokyo Category:Monthly magazines published in Japan Category:Photography magazines published in Japan
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