A Personal Gallery
Opened November 1993
Featured at the Oriental Center of the National Library of Lithuania.
When I first arrived in Japan, twelve years ago, it all looked so unique. I had never left California before except for a vague trip to Tijuana, which I barely remember. I was overwhelmed by how different everything looked here. I took a lot of photographs. It was all so ... so ... so Japanese looking. Now what seems strange is that nothing seems strange anymore. Unfortunately I had almost stopped taking any pictures. I am beginning to renew my eyes.
Tokyo Eyes: One (original) || Tokyo
Eyes: Two (more
photos)
Tokyo Eyes in Motion (movies) || Traveling
to Tokyo (a quick visit with my folks)
Swimming to Shibuya (Quicktime 3min) I have begun capturing the flow and sound of Tokyo. While standing on the
platform waiting for the Yamanote-sen I was struck by the swimming of fish. This is not
a documentary, but impressionistic motion.
Innocent
Variations
These school girls wait in front of Meiji Tori. At first I just saw the color of their uniform uniforms; the reds, whites, and dark blacks, all the
same; new traditional Japanese dress. But the more I study this picture the more I see each individual expression, like beautiful modulations on a simple
theme.
Tokyo doesn't have
any grand vistas like San Francisco, Paris, or Sydney. The beauty
here is in the little details. The colors of beans for
sale in Tsukiji intrique
me.
I love the way
the old tradition and the most modern technology blend in Tokyo. Like
a woman in kimono on a motor scooter or a brushed
kanji in neon
lights.
We often have a
contest to count how many bodies are smashed up against us at one
time while riding on the Chuo-sen in
the morning to Tokyo. Seven is not
uncommon.
The TV outside
the central
Shinjuku
entrance is a popular meeting place (like waiting at Hachiko, the dog
statue, in Shibuya). One block away are the wonders of
Kabukicho.
New Year's Day at
Sensoji with a few
friends.
For luck,
wealth, and good health one travels from shrine to shrine during the
New Year to gather tokens of Shichifukujin,
the seven lucky gods. Here they are painted on a wall behind four
lucky
teenagers.
The Senja-fuda
at Asakusa are name cards left by worshippers. The name
literally means "one thousand shrine card," and is written in a
special bold script, Edo Moji. Kinda like Japanese
graffiti.
Color one eye on
the
Daruma,
make your prayer, and then fill in the other eye when the prayer
becomes reality. This bin of Darumas were for sale at the annual
festival at Jindai-ji, a temple near our
house.
This poster at the Shibuya train
station is advertising the comic manga,
"Jump." A
perfect read for the tired salaryman on his way home from
work.
Sometimes you
just need something familiar,
Makudonarudo.
Tokyo is not
Japan. Sometimes I forget. Here is a farmer
in his field at Lake Nojiri on the west side of Honshu to remind
me.
These tomatoes
were so bright just before they rotted in the green field in October.
Also at
Nojiri-ko.
I'm
playing the traditional Miyake-jima Taiko
rhythm. I am not dressed in traditional attire.
Listen to
the drums.
Tokyo
Eyes: Two More photos and some
thoughts.
Brent Huber
Thanks for visiting. Send me your thoughts. bhuber@asij.ac.jpOther related sites
Travels to Tokyo || ASIJ Music || Original Film and Drama Scripts