Japan Exposures, A Gateway to Japanese Photography

If I cannot think of anything else, when looking for a gift around the holidays, there is always a book that will bring something into someone's day.

If you share my interest in photography and Japanese culture, you might want to check Japan Exposures whose aim is to allow 'a personal introduction to Japanese photography'.

Some of their photos will challenge your sensibilities.

All in all they cover a large spectrum of periods and approaches.

In the books department, they are currently showcasing the work of Kazuo Kitai.

I especially noticed 1970's Nippon (Harper's Books, cover below) of which they have a signed copy.

They quote the following afterword on the project from Kazuo Kitai (who was born in China in 1944):

"I had no place that I can call a hometown as I had repeated moving many times since my childhood. All the same I longed for my hometown and I projected my hometown many times on pictures appeared in a developing solution under a red light in a darkroom. However, while I was taking these photographs, populations in farming villages were being absorbed into big cities continuously as a labor force and the decrease in population in farming villages was advancing. 1970s were the age in which a village community and human relation centering the agriculture had been collapsed and Japan in old and good age had finished."

Japan Exposures not just for the amateur, will also please collectors.

A train to somewhere for Tokyo Thursdays # 116

Last Week: Bad Boy Drinks Tea, Manga Meets Tea and Calligraphy