shashasha

Following his 2023 photobook "Nebraska, The Good Life," John Sypal again turns his attention to the Japanese capital, where he has lived for nearly two decades.
Sypal, whose influences include Japanese greats such as Nobuyoshi Araki, Daido Moriyama, and Suda Issei, has spent years photographing Tokyo's "shitamachi," the parts of eastern Tokyo largely untouched by relentless rebuilding and redevelopment. Taking walks through these neighborhoods accompanied by various medium-format cameras, Sypal captured their slightly otherworldly atmosphere in visual fragments: empty lots overgrown with weeds, shadows on the wall of a building, a well-dressed couple dancing in a snack bar, an old wooden shack overshadowed by surrounding concrete buildings, and (of course) numerous stray cats. Similar to his previous "shitamachi"-focused book "Zuisha," a mysterious woman who appears throughout the series serves as a kind of guiding character.

“Medium format cameras make for interesting comapnions.
I tend to take mine on walks.
They’re bulky and sometimes rather inconvenient.
In use, they require a particular kind of effort and dedication.
Yet the negatives they give back are generous in information and mystery.
Through their clarity a Tokyo I’ve long sensed has revealed itself.”
― John Sypal’s afterword