Photo Essays : Tokyo Team
Miyagi : Tokyo : Osaka : Hiroshima
We took photos of people in Tokyo under the theme, “Living in Tokyo.” Tokyo is a huge city, but everyone has their own lives, with both troubles and happy times. Each person may seem tiny in the context of this big city, but we wanted to focus on these everyday people and convey their lively stories.
Tokyo is a city of many different people, from men and women with their own businesses who have been there for generations, to businessmen who have just recently moved there, to individuals pursuing particular dreams. There are areas like Shinjuku filled with skyscrapers, and there are old parts of town with lots of trees, old houses, and old shops. There are young people who are into kosupure (cosplay or costume play, a subculture in which people dress up as characters from manga, anime, etc.), who are into flashy clothes, and who perform on the streets, while there also are young people who appear as though they have been abandoned by the city itself.
We took a picture with a spirited group of Spanish tourists before Hachiko, the dog statue in front of Shibuya railway station. We were surprised to see so many foreigners everywhere we went. In Tokyo, one’s worldview opens up, with so many opportunities to meet not only people from other countries but from other parts of Japan.
Just like Tokyo Tower transmits broadcasting signals in various directions, Tokyo sends culture out to the rest of the world. Some people we met in Tokyo’s Harajuku district told us that Tokyo is a hub of fashion trends and information.
In a back alley in Nishi-Shinjuku, which is packed with buildings, we saw a street sign that had been altered. The gaku (school) character of tsugakuro (school route) had been taped over with a sticker, turning the sign into tsuro (passageway). At first, we thought someone had defaced the sign. But as it turns out, with the number of skyscrapers rising and fewer children in the neighborhood, schools had disappeared from the area and along with it, the routes along which children made their way to school and back.
Tokyo had many things we had imagined it would have, and many things we did not think it would have. We’re not sure if we were able to communicate that through our photos, but we did the best we could.
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