The 17 People and Places film travelogues, released from 1953 to 1960, primarily focused on little-known places or out-of-the-ordinary people, and on this day in 1960, turned to Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, for its subject. Focusing on farming, schooling, and even an actual traditional Shinto wedding, the footage was the result of a two-year stay by photographer Ernst A. Heiniger. When Walt Disney was visiting Switzerland in 1952, he was impressed by photos he saw at an exhibition and arranged to meet the photographer. By that time, Ernst had also begun doing film camera work for films as well, and during that fateful meeting, Walt hired him on the spot to come work Disney.
