shashasha

An alluring, strangely compelling photographic record of Japanese photographer Miho Yokochi’s journeys to seaside towns all over Japan.

“I was born near Cape Irago, at the far end of the Atsumi peninsula in Aichi Prefecture; the place where the “Song of the Coconut” is set. When I did not yet know what it felt like to travel, the word coconut seemed as nostalgic and distant to me as a graduation year book.

But before long, I eventually came across coconuts at the ferry terminal in Irago, and I began to wonder where they came from and what kind of journey they had behind them.

As I wandered along the seashore taking photographs, I felt the strong desire to spend all my time walking along the seashores of Japan taking photographs, just like the coconuts that spent so long to traverse the ocean.

The local fishermen taught me about the tides and the seasonal delicacies that I waited for me in inns and stores; about the beaches and lighthouses that reminded me of Irago; about the strong winds; about the laughing families and lovers… Each place felt to me like my own birthplace, and I felt happy to have been born in Japan, surrounded by the sea in all directions.

This book is merely a small collection of photographs of mine, but I hope it will inspire you to travel and to think about your own home.”
— statement by the artist (translation by shashasha)