Category: picture story
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Tokyo Mosaic #14: Distant and familiar.
From the places I’ve seen in Tokyo, this neighborhood made me think most of a “Kiez”, which in Berlin doesn’t only mean the area where you live, but the places and corners where you feel at home. Laid-back atmospheres are contagious. If the cozy dinner chitchat in episode 12 made me think I should come …
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Tokyo Mosaic #13: Bustle and Peace.
When the sheer density of built space becomes overwhelming, it’s time to remember. It’s this density that makes the city so diverse at every step, in Ochanomizu or elsewhere. (tbc) *No matter how loud the noise around, focus on that piece of framed sky in the last, the Confucian temple. This is where it gets…
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Tokyo Mosaic #12: Faces.
One of my favorite remembrances of Tokyo is getting back home and being welcomed by unexpected guests at the dinner table. No matter how surreal some of our chitchat has been: that night, I really felt at home in Tokyo. This is where I decided that sooner or later, I’d have to come back to…
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Tokyo Mosaic #11: Sacrifice.
My friend surely doesn’t stick to Japanese conventions and ideals: The young, Capoeira loving mom traveled a lot and has already been living outside the country for a long time. But whenever I’m asking questions, she tries to explain, to clear things up from a local perspective. Time and time again I found Japanese storytelling…
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Tokyo Mosaic #10: Pacific Timeout.
A weekend excursion to the Pacific coast brought about some deep reflections on cultural expectations and values. Of course, some sake had helped to get and to keep our conversational flow going. Yet I had to wonder: What was the reason for this profoundly different conception of a worthwhile personal sacrifice, shining through the widow’s…
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Tokyo Mosaic #9: Awareness.
Having lived in Berlin for years, my friend knows both her native Japanese and German culture. She translated a lot to me, making sense far beyond mere word meanings. An urban mosaic gradually takes form, and what drives you to gather further pieces is not its debatable beauty: It’s the curiosity to know more. *Every…
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Tokyo Mosaic #8: Like it or not.
I was still sitting at Shibuya’s pedestrian crossing, when suddenly a film crew popped up right next to me. Interviewing one shy and one stylish girl, these TV people gave me a first glimpse of how youth culture is captured on Japanese streets. To me, this kind of professional filmic record seemed actually far less…
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Tokyo Mosaic #7: Uniforms.
Observation is never neutral. You become part of the setting you observe, and that’s how you change it, already. *Or is it the setting that changes you?* (tbc)
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Tokyo Mosaic #6: Urban Pause.
Once again, I’m casting side glances. Once again, I m’ taking the freedom to pause where it might not be appropriate. How long would it take until I’d get into the local mode of permanent rush? Then again, what if only the outsider’s ability to cast side glances unveils what makes a city beautiful? (tbc)…
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Tokyo Mosaic #5: Idols and Doramas.
Never trust media images, especially where idols, singers and actors pave every route through the city. Popular actors often make me wonder about the identity behind the facade. Who are those people we appreciate because they best manage to hide their own being in roles that represent everything but themselves? Maybe me not liking Hiroshi…
Urban Visualizer 