So I did some photos for cosplayer friends recently, a Vocaloid song called 千本桜, and the PV has associated imagery like this:

What time period?

History-sensei Akira advises that we're looking at Meiji/Taisho period. Think turn of the century, like 1900-1920.

I've got one shot in particular that I think would make a great photo for official ID papers or something similar (think of like a military passport or something). I can make it b/w, beat it up to make it look aged, design and print some sort of page structure to go around it. But first, I need some idea of what that would look like, and whether it's something I can work with at all.

The Senbonzakura garb is not entirely clear, because school uniforms were military-inspired as well, but it's a fair guess that it's military because they have medals and stuff on the uniforms.

This is a Google search for Taisho-era attire, which gives us 1912-1926. It's pretty classic stuff that we've seen in Sakura Taisen. (example)

This establishes that printed photos are entirely plausible, sweet!

What do documents look like?

• Passport for colonial subjects: http://www.globalnum.com.tw/13-2_auction/04_literature/01_images/1504.gif

• A Japanese passport (unknown year, possibly 1940s era): http://auctions.c.yimg.jp/img385.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/7/6/0/6/de_coracao_53-img600x450-13690236758sb1br13591.jpg

  • It says Grorious Nippon across the top, probably "teikoku something-something" (actually, "Passport of the Greater Japanese Empire")

• A nifty guide to current stuff, and some history: http://www.turning-japanese.info/2012/07/types-of-japanese-passports.html

  • "Fun fact: the very first passport issued by Japan was issued by the Japanese Empire to a juggler/acrobat by the name of 隅田川浪五郎 {SUMIDAGAWA Namigorō}, for the purpose of performing at the World Expo in Paris in 1867."

• Official information: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/shiryo/qa/sonota_01.html

  • Looks like some good history here

• Mention of pictures here? http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/yr/empires/Detritus_passports.html#japan1922

  • Referring to http://www.bunzo.jp/

What shall I do?

I think I can get away with either a booklet-type passport, or an "old-style" paper sheet. The latter will be especially complex, if it's at all like the grand old document link above ("colonial subjects").