shashasha

“Tokyo-Yokosuka 1976-1983” is the third of a trilogy of books that explore Greg Girard’s formative years between his late teens and early thirties (the other two entries being “Under Vancouver” and “HK:PM”).
The photos in this book, taken during two extended stays in the late 70s to early 80s, show a Tokyo before its decisive Bubble era, before its big break as the model city of the future. Girard’s color photographs capture Tokyo (and Japan) at a turning point, slowly turning away from its post-war arrest to develop its own vision of modernity.

“Looking at these pictures now, four decades after they were made, like all “old” photographs they end up as a record no matter what the intentions at the time. But today they also seem to provide a unexpected glimpse of two historical streams passing each other headed in opposite directions: one, the decline of US pre-eminence in the post-war world, particularly in Asia; the other, the emergence of an Asian city, the non-West, as the default for what the future might look like.” (from the artist’s statement)