TOSHIO SHIBATA - YODAKA

TOSHIO SHIBATA
YODAKA

Published Zen Foto, 2015
Book size 30 x 38 cm
48 pages
Languages ​​English, Japanese
Hardcover

The end of the 1970s saw the completion of Japan's postwar construction, as well as a withering of the student movement and the various terrorist acts that had shaken the global community. The early 1980s was a brief interlude of calm, anticipating the end of the long Showa era, before Japan was deluged by the bubble economy.
I had just returned to Japan in 1980, after studying for four years in Flanders where time moves slowly, and the atmosphere is very relaxed. In addition to the rapidly advancing westernization, the reality of this new Tokyo, where old pre-war Show was blended with modern Showa (post-war) looked disorderly and chaotic to me, and it was not easy to capture it visually.
I struggled to realize my own mode of expression in this home country of mine, and began by chasing lights of the night-time to deflect this chaos.

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The late 1970s saw the completion of the construction of post-war Japan, as well as the fading of the student movement and the various terrorist acts that had shaken the world community. The early 1980s were a brief interlude of calm, anticipating the end of the long Showa era, before Japan was submerged by the economic bubble.
I had just returned to Japan in 1980, after studying for four years in Flanders, where time passes slowly and the atmosphere is very relaxed. Apart from the rapid advance of Westernization, the reality of this new Tokyo, where the old pre-war Showa was mixed with the modern (post-war) Showa, seemed to me disordered and chaotic, and it was not easy to grasp it visually.
I struggled to realize my own mode of expression in this country of mine, and I began by chasing the lights of the night to divert this chaos.

- Toshio Shibata, 2015