Kohei Yoshiyuki was an ordinary commercial photographer who spend nearly a decade documenting a strange subterranean aspect of Tokyo culture. After publishing his work, he became notorious for a short period of time. Then Yoshiyuki quietly disappeared from the art scene. It all came about … Keep readingKohei Yoshiyuki
Masahisa Fukase is part of that strange generation of Japanese artists born before the Second World War and who came to maturity after their nation was defeated and devastated. They are, in a distinctly Japanese way, a lost generation. Fukase was born on Hokkaido, Japan’s … Keep readingMasahisa Fukase
In 1945, detective novelist Raymond Chandler wrote an essay about the ‘new detective story.’ The stories were considered new because they introduced a new type of protagonist: the hard-boiled detective. In part, Chandler wrote: “…down these mean streets a man must go who is not … Keep readingDaido Moriyama
Sometimes the accident of birth shapes the course of one’s life. It’s true for Shomei Tomatsu. He was born and raised in the industrial city of Nagoya, Japan in 1930. The fact that Nagoya was an industrial center became important 15 years later when U.S. … Keep readingShomei Tomatsu
As he wandered around the San Lázaro Psychiatric Hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Watanabe was followed by a woman patient. She nattered on about a toothache and he apparently didn’t pay much attention to her. As he was leaving, she asked him a … Keep readingHiroshi Watanabe