shashasha

"VOS - Voice Off Stage" is a series published as part of the free fashion- and culture-focused magazine "FLJ".
In the series, the workplaces of traditional Japanese artisans - folk toy makers and similar — are introduced in word and picture by photographer Shin Okishima.
Titled "Voice Off Stage", this photobook collects portraits of 25 Japanese craftsmen, adding to the 19 "VOS"-editions there have been published until the last year.
With the artisans at the "front stage" and their daily life, their tools, their vistas serving as the background, the "off stage", the series focuses on a deeper appreciation of the works produced by listening closely to their makers’ words.

A must-read book of historical value, created with much thought by young people who hope the crafts, techniques and skills of a disappearing Japan will be preserved.

— from the publisher’s statement (translation by shashasha)