Marketplaces of the World:
Through forty-one countries of the world with senses alert and cameras in hand journeyed two young Japanese men. In each country, in every city, town, or village they sought out the marketplace and reveled in its color, confusion, and fellowship.
In places as far apart as the Amazon River Valley and snowy Lapland, they found that market people had much in common, and that the markets themselves served more than a commercial function in the community. But they were saddened to find that everywhere there were signs of decay in traditional marketplace life and that its role as a forum of the people is likely to disappear. In the Middle East, however, and in Nepal they visited markets operating in the age-old way, where goods are bartered and gossip exchanged.
Visually the world’s marketplaces are a riot of color and activity. The authors captured almost every conceivable market on film, giving the reader visual world tour. Their journey convinced them both that an essential human quality
is part of the din of the marketplace, and that its loss to the world would be great. (Kansilehti)