Greg Girard
JAL 76 88
Published by Kominek, 2023
Book size 20.8 x 27.5 cm
256 pages
Language English
"When I first arrived in Tokyo in April, 1976 the plan was to spend a few days and then continue on to SE Asia. I decided to stow my luggage at the airport that first night so I could just wander around. I had no idea where I was going to stay. I took the monorail from Haneda airport into the city and then rode the circle of the Yamanote line around Tokyo. of town. I spent the night wandering around Shinjuku and nearby neighborhoods and by morning I knew I wanted to stay. It's perhaps worth pointing out that in 1976 there was nothing to prepare a first-time visitor for Tokyo. to enter the language. At the time the notion that the future had arrived, and was alive and well in an Asian city, was simply not known.
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"When I arrived in Tokyo in April 1976, the plan was to spend a few days there and then continue on to Southeast Asia. I decided to leave my luggage at the airport the first night so I could walk around. I had no idea where I was going to stay. I took the monorail from Haneda Airport into the city and then rode the Yamanote Line around Tokyo. I got off the train in Shinjuku. It was the brightest, noisiest, and busiest part of the city. I spent the night walking around Shinjuku and the surrounding areas and by morning knew I wanted to stay. It is perhaps worth noting that in 1976, nothing could prepare a first-time visitor to Tokyo for this discovery. The phrase "BladeRunner-esque" had not yet entered the language. At the time, the idea that the future had arrived, and that he was alive and well in an Asian city, was simply not known. So stumbling upon it was exciting and eye-opening."
Greg Girard