Bob Langjahr sent me this great link to a photograph archive at Nagasaki University with material from 19th century Japan:
http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/unive/
as well as this series from Tibet in the 1940s:
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/asianstudies/TibetanPhotos/Snaps.html
Samurai Champloo fans, eat your heart out!
For books on (19th century) Asian photography see: www.boekraam.nl
See especialy the following titles: People at the other side of the Great Wall (Mongolia); Fom Bombay to Shanghai (Southeast Asia); De lamer de Chine au Tonkin (China)