KATSUMI WATANABE
SHINJUKU GUNTODEN (STORY OF THE SHINJUKU THIEVES)
Published by Akio Nagasawa Publishing, 2013
Book size 31 x 21 cm
303 pages
Hardcover with slipcase
Language Japanese, English
Limited edition of 500 numbered copies
Katumi Watanabe's Shinjuku Guntoden: Story of The Shinjuku Thieves excellently encapsulates Watanabe's love affair with Shinjuku's 2-Chome Kabukicho. Containing a selection of portraits of which Watanabe had been taking during the course that runs a little more than a decade, the images capture the people of Kabukicho then, rough, loud, and exciting, boldly dressed to attract the attention of passers by. These snapshops are a result of Watanabe's wanderings and are a testament to his life long attachment to the area. Working as a drifting photographer, Watanabe strolled the streets of Shinjuku, walking into bars, cabarets, gay clubs and pleasure hotels offering his services in exchange for a 200 yen fee. Ladies, bar tenders, Yakuzas all take stage within his photographs, posing and performing for Watanabe's lens. Here these snapshot portraits taken by Watanabe capture an era of Shinjuku almost unrecognizable to the Shinjuku known today, within his images are frozen moments of a time and place of excitement and struggle, expression and hidden feelings, tenderly preserved within the memory of an image.
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Katumi Watanabe’s Shinjuku Guntoden: Story of The Shinjuku Thieves perfectly encapsulates Watanabe’s love affair with Shinjuku’s 2-Chome Kabukicho. Featuring a selection of portraits Watanabe took over a little over a decade, the images capture the Kabukicho residents of the time as rough, boisterous, and exciting, dressed in bold attire to attract the attention of passersby. These snapshots are the result of Watanabe’s travels and demonstrate his lifelong attachment to the area. A photographer adrift, Watanabe roams the streets of Shinjuku, entering bars, cabarets, gay clubs, and pleasure hotels to offer his services for a fee of 200 yen. Women, bartenders, and Yakuza all feature in his photographs, posing and acting out for Watanabe’s lens. These snapshot portraits taken by Watanabe capture an era of Shinjuku that is almost unrecognizable from the Shinjuku we know today. These images are frozen moments of a time and place of excitement and struggle, of expression and hidden feelings, tenderly preserved in the memory of an image.