Sleeping on the job is totally accepted and normal in Japan. So is keeping the umbilical chord of your child, adopting an adult to replace the current family heir, getting a tooth surgery to deliberately make them look as imperfect as possible, shutting yourself for hours in a pachinko to destroy your eardrums and walking your small dog inside a pushchair. Thus, I constantly feel the urge to take out my camera and take a few shots. Unfortunately, I don’t have a camera yet; but many other professional and amateurs photographs do. This country is certainly a mecca for urban photographers given the weirdness of Japanese citizens added to a great sense of design and a proper conservation of the old while reinventing the new, colorful architecture.
If you want to include a Japanese touch to your feed wall on Flickr, here are some great artists I follow. Maybe not professionals, maybe not worthy of being in any exhibition or of any awards, but still able to capture mundane life in a very gracious and warm way. It’s the kind of stuff I wish I was able to capture. In summary, I just wanted to share some great stuff.
Junya Suzuki frames everyday Japanese small-city/countryside life. The setup the artist uses for his camera gives the photos a nostalgic touch that makes 2015 look like 1972.
Ogino Taro shoots nature and buildings, and the colorful combination of them that exists in Nippon. Only occasionally featuring people in them, his carefully taken photographs are indifferent to the passage of time, and at the same time account the story of the ordinary Japanese citizen, as well as a journey through the four seasons. He also happens to have a liking for old, rusted metal walls that I can’t quite sympathize with, though.
Yoshitaka Kashima takes care of framing the frenzy in Tokyo, the crowded places, weird individuals and all that stuff that a first-time one-month backpacker in the country will want to check and get immersed in during his journey. From the pop culture present around the main districts of Shibuya, Ginza and Ikebukuro, to the hot and smelly traditional restaurants, iconic train stations and high schoolers doing whatever high schoolers do. He basically covers everything that Tokyo is about. This artist remains as one of my greatest findings on Flickr!
Hisa Ishida is Japan gone hipster. His work gets too depressing sometimes, and his serious-looking models are of no help. Expect a lot of abandoned houses, dark tunnels and streets, forgotten bicycles and closed businesses.
See you, future is a guy from Manila who says that “one day we will meet, but for now I will post photos”. I don’t think he even lives in Japan anymore. He does not really select the pictures he shares, so sometimes he publishes one too many pictures of the same concept, idea, color or activity, which can be a bit boring. He’s got a few cool pieces, so I thought I would mention him too. His series of pictures from an empty high school is what caught my attention.
Alex/Librarymook has a powerful arsenal of cameras and does a great job documenting many cities throughout the island. Her work is extremely fresh, interesting and fun. I really enjoy the way she experiments with focus, composition and geometry.
