shashasha

Tokyo’s true old souls – 1980s kids

This Sokyusha publication covers Japanese photographer Michio Yamauchi’s very first photographs taken with artistic intent. Yamauchi, walking around Tokyo and trying to take photographs of this and that, noticed that his impromptu photographs of children had something special about them. Beginning in 1981, he portrayed kids around Tokyo, some posing for the camera, others seemingly unaware of Yamauchi’s presence. Looking at the photographs, Yamauchi’s subjects actually convey a solemn seriousness despite their young age.

“Instead of being innocent and sweet, their characters mark them as old souls—mature and reflective”
— from Michio Yamauchi’s afterword (included in Japanese & English translation)