Two exhibitions now showing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography offer a fascinating contrast in photojournalism.
"Press Photographers' Story," in the second-floor gallery through July 5, brings together the works of five well-known Japanese news photographers who were active from the 1930s to the early '70s. Meanwhile, two flights down in the basement gallery, "World Press Photo '09" presents 200 startlingly contemporary press photographs from all over the world, the latest winners in an annual competition.
The current photographs are definitely more accessible, with their oversize format, vivid color and themes from recent nightly news shows. But the upstairs exhibition will reward the patient viewer, first and foremost by providing a historical context for Japanese news photography, but also by presenting understated images that are at times both beautiful and deeply moving.