shashasha

Shigeru Yamazaki’s photobook “Weekend” journeys into two different Tokyos. In the first chapter, Yamazaki presents photographs taken in a period of rapid economic growth between 1974 and 1977 in the traditional shitamachi districts of Tokyo – populated by less affluent workers, these districts are vibrant with life, ingenuity and honesty, all of which is reflected in Yamazaki’s restrained black-and-white photographs. In the second chapter, Yamazaki jumps into Tokyo’s present and shares images taken between 2015 and 2020. Though the contrast is not as stark as it would seem, modern Tokyo is a more individualized, expressive place in Yamazaki’s images.

“Photography is both a record and a copy. People say that times repeat themselves, but I have been searching for everyday scenes in which one can feel the difference between the times—nostalgic for the older generations and new for the younger generations.”
― from Shigeru Yamazaki’s afterword (included in Japanese and English)