Notes Japan-Photo.info

Miscellanea (mainly) on Japanese art and culture...

Trailer for the 1971 movie: “Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets” by Shūji Terayama. 

Shūji Terayama was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. 

In 1967, Terayama formed the Tenjō Sajiki theater troupe. Terayama with his Tenjō troupe was a crucial and highly influential part of the Japanese Avant-Garde at the end 1906s.

Also in 1967, Terayama started an experimental cinema and gallery called ‘Universal Gravitation,’ which is in fact still in existence. 

Terayama published almost 200 literary works, and over 20 short and full-length films.

By the way, the photographer Issei Suda worked as cameraman for the theater group, before he became an independent photographer and published his major series “Fûshi Kaden”. 

Issei Suda: Yokohama, Sankaien Garden, Plum Blossom Festival(from the series: ‘Fushi Kaden’), 1977

And Daido Moriyama was well connected to Shūji Terayama. Moriyama’s very first book “Japan: A Photo Theater” had a foreword by Terayama. And the book included several images of the troupe. 

Daido Moriyama: Japan Theater, 1967


I am currently involved in the preparation of several exhibitions on Japanese photography. Two of them will open this Friday in Cologne.

“Japan 4 - Nobuyoshi Araki, Daido Moriyama, Yutaka Takanashi, Shomei Tomatsu” @Galerie Priska Pasquer
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“Daido Moriyama” @Jablonka Pasquer Projects

See more at Blog Galerie Priska Pasquer and updates at Facebook


Punctum - new Asian photo magazine, produced in India

First Issue
Massoud Hossaini, Munem Wasif, Mimi, Kushal Ray, Rony Zakaria, Ken Kitano
Suyeon Yun, Sovan Philong, Jes Aznar, Wei Leng Tay, Po-I Chen, Omar Kasmani
and Loan Nguyen.

(Source: punctum.asia)


Sunday Photo/ Floating #5 -
Kiyoshi Koishi: “Drunken Dream, Fatigue”, 1936

Sunday Photo/ Floating #5 -

Kiyoshi Koishi: “Drunken Dream, Fatigue”, 1936

(Source: japan-photo.info)


Sunday Photo/ Floating #4 -
Asako Narahashi: Kawaguchiko, from the series: “half awake and half asleep in the water”, 2003

Sunday Photo/ Floating #4 -

Asako Narahashi: Kawaguchiko, from the series: “half awake and half asleep in the water”, 2003

(Source: priskapasquer.de)


Sunday Photo/ Floating #3 -
Shomei Tomatsu: Untitled (Hateruma-jima, Okinawa), from the series “The Pencil of the Sun”, 1971©Shomei Tomatsu

Sunday Photo/ Floating #3 -

Shomei TomatsuUntitled (Hateruma-jima, Okinawa), from the series “The Pencil of the Sun”, 1971
©Shomei Tomatsu


Floating #2
Ikko Narahara: Two garbage cans, Indian Village, New Mexico”, 1972, from the series “Where Time has Vanished”

Floating #2

Ikko Narahara: Two garbage cans, Indian Village, New Mexico”, 1972, from the series “Where Time has Vanished”


Floating #1
Lieko Shiga: “Chiako”, from the series “Canary”, 2007

Floating #1

Lieko Shiga: “Chiako”, from the series “Canary”, 2007


The unbearable lightness of floating - Natsumi Hayashi

Natsumi Hayashi, photographing herself seemingly floating in the air. 
A nice idea, well executed.

See more at her blog: 
yowayowa camera women diary

A recent interview with the photographer: 
Wheeee! Floating photographer captures herself ‘levitating’


On Contemporary Photography

One thing that I find fascinating about what’s happening right now – and I suspect that this will gain importance in future – is that rather than photography representing the capture or culmination of something, it’s becoming a form of instigation. For me, the most interesting works coming out right now – even if they’ve been formalized in the form of a book, an exhibition, a print or a website – represent the beginnings of something. They’re not simply an end result, or the remnants of something that has past and been preserved in silver gelatin, emulsion, or ink; they’re starts, sparks, or seeds from which many other things might grow.

Aaron Schuman, in: Foam Magazine: What’s Next? A Search into the Future of Photography