The pictures of independent Bangladesh taken by this Japanese photographer were hidden for so long

Taizo Ichinose came to Dhaka in 1972 to photograph the newly independent Bangladesh. This 25-year-old Japanese photographer took more than two hundred photographs on the road. Some are colored, some are black and white. The following year Taijo mysteriously disappeared in Cambodia. The pictures taken by him remain hidden. Recently, through Prothom Alo's Japan representative Manjurul Haque, the Taijo family handed over the photographs to the Liberation War Museum. Those pictures are being displayed in the gallery of the museum from July 20. Nizam Biswas tells the story of photographer Taijo

Taizo Ichinose came to Dhaka in February 1972 on assignment from the news agency United Press International (UPI). The capital of newly independent Bangladesh was a pile of ashes. Taijo was originally commissioned by UPI to photograph the Bihari camp. However, Taijo did not just take pictures of the Bihari camp, he ran to all corners of the country. The camera captured the suffering of the people of a war-torn country. The joy of people to get a newly independent country. Also his camera captured the devastation of West Pakistanis.

Taijo was in Bangladesh for about one and a half months during that visit. Taijo returned to Japan in March 1972. After a few days, he went back to his work place in Cambodia. He left more than two hundred rare photographs of Bangladesh at his home in Japan.

26 years of life
Running from battle to battle with the camera is like Taizo's addiction. As a photographer, he covered the Vietnam War to the Laos-Cambodia Civil War. In one place, Taijo wrote, "The biggest blow of war comes to common people." That's why his photographs tell the story of people more than direct war.

Taizo Ichinose was born on November 1, 1947 in Takeo, Saga Region, Japan. Taizo is the eldest of three children in the Ichinose family. His two younger sisters. Taijo was a member of the baseball team while in school. Later became interested in photography while running a fitness club. In 1970, he graduated in photography from Nihon University Art College, Japan. While in college, he devoted himself to photographing sports, especially boxing. He himself was an avid boxer. After graduation, he worked for three months in the Tokyo bureau of the news agency 'United Press International'.

In mid-August 1972, the Cambodian government labeled Taijo as a 'photographer of choice'. When the expulsion order was issued on him, he went to Vietnam. Within a month, he won the first prize in the 'UPI News Picture' competition. Then he started working as a freelance photographer. His photographs were published in Japan's leading national newspapers, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek.

Just a few days after turning 26 in 1973, Taijo left home to write a note to a friend. It was written in the note, "If you accidentally step on a buried landmine, you may not be able to return home." There is no way to know whether he actually stepped on a landmine that day or not. Because Taizo never came back after that journey. Amazingly, he left with an accurate prediction of his tragic future, and was never found again.

Almost a decade after his disappearance, Ichinose's parents travel to Cambodia to find out what exactly happened to their son. They found Ichinose's broken camera while plowing through the cities and villages of Cambodia where children once walked. After gathering some more evidence, his parents were convinced for the first time that the boy was no longer alive.