Yuki Tatsumi was working as a waiter in a restaurant when one day, as he was cleaning up a table, he noticed that a customer had intricately folded up the paper chopstick sleeve and left it behind. Japan doesn’t have a culture of tipping but Tatsumi imagined that this was a discreet , subconscious method of showing appreciation. He began paying attention and sure enough noticed that other customers were doing the same thing. Tatsumi began collecting these “tips” which eventually led to his art project: Japanese Tip. (Source: Spoon&Tamago)
With mazes of expressways pushing scores of traffic through action filled, neon lit cities, there is perhaps no better platform than Japan to grasp the full motion and machinery of life.
But sitting silently in the shadows waits another realm. Just as intoxicating, enchanting and engaging as its counterpart albeit not as animated or ablaze with flashing lights, hundreds of abandoned abodes lay forgotten and left to decay.
Stepping away from the lights and into the shadows, photographer Shane Thoms embarks on an underground voyeuristic journey, documenting a curious collection of images that provide a rare and intimate glimpse into a secret, mysterious and sometimes bizarre world.
http://carpetbombingculture.co.uk/book/haikyo-the-modern-ruins-of-japan/
Sixteen essays by Soetsu Yanagi, key figure of the Japanese folk craft (Mingei) movement. A must read for anybody who liked Yanagi's book The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty. - Highly recommended. Published by JPIC | Hardcover | ISBN 978-4-916055-75-0 | 246 pages | March 2017
