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German-based gallery/publisher Kominek presents a collection of Greg Girard’s photographs of Tokyo taken between 1976 and 1988. Girard arrived in Japan at a time before Blade Runner, when the neon-futuristic image of the Asian megacity was yet to enter the popular imagination in the west.

“When I first arrived in Tokyo in April, 1976 the plan was to spend a few days and then continue on to SE Asia. I decided to stow my luggage at the airport that first night so I could just wander around. I had no idea where I was going to stay. I took the monorail from Haneda airport into the city and then rode the circle of the Yamanote line around Tokyo. When I arrived at Shinjuku I got off the train. It seemed the brightest, noisiest and most crowded part of town. I spent the night wandering around Shinjuku and nearby neighborhoods and by morning I knew I wanted to stay. It’s perhaps worth pointing out that in 1976 there was nothing to prepare a first-time visitor for Tokyo. “BladeRunner-esque” had yet to enter the language. At the time the notion that the future had arrived, and was alive and well in an Asian city, was simply not known. And so, to stumble across it was thrilling and eye-opening.”
― Greg Girard

In addition to more than 200 photographs, “JAL 76 88” will also include an interview with Girard by Brad Feuerhelm.