Photo/Illutration People look at pictures through the lens of a peep-show device called a “nozoki karakuri” in Osaka on Aug. 8. (Sachi Otsuta).

You are standing before a wall. What would you do if you noticed a small hole in it?

I think most people would peek through the hole. It’s exciting to imagine an unknown world unfolding before your eyes. You’d also feel a sense of superiority if you are the only one able to see it. Even if there may be danger lurking behind the wall, you’d still want to see.

The title of an exhibition being held at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is “A Genealogy of ‘Peep Media’ and the Gaze.”

I saw it and was awed by humanity’s passion for peeping.

Devices on display included the stereoscope to enable the three-dimensional viewing of pictures, the Kinetoscope and other equipment for creating motion pictures and early samples of animated cartoons.

The evolution of visual devices over the last few centuries represents the history of peeping around the world.

And, as I understand it, the discovery of perspective and the invention of the lens were crucial to our evolutionary process.

In Japan, a peep-show device called “nozoki karakuri” that street performers operated became popular from the late Edo Period (1603-1867). Viewers looked at pictures, drawn with perspective, through a convex lens.

Looking at the exhibits made me want to try out actual peeping devices, myself. So, I paid a visit to Machiko Kusahara, a visual culture expert and professor emerita at Waseda University.

Kusahara recommended I first try the stereoscope that became explosively popular around the world from the late 19th century. It looked like a pair of eyeglasses with a patterned rod extending from the bridge.

When I placed a U.S.-made, black-and-white photo on the tip of the rod, a person came into focus. And as I fed continuous pictures in sequence, a funny story unfolded of a hapless husband who got caught cheating on his wife.

There were also pictures of tourist sites, such as Paris, and of a World War I battleground.

“In any age, humans seek surprises through a little window,” Kusahara said. “The essence of peeping’s visual culture is here to stay.”

Gazing at my smartphone screen in my office while alone, it suddenly occurred to me that what I was doing was also a form of peeping.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 2

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.