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Honne Tatemae
Honne Tatemae
(Honne is the truthful feeling, a deep desire – Tatemae is the facade, social expectation)What do you like about Japan?
Let me try to make you a list.
Girls in uniforms, men in suits, people sleeping in the subway, fake food, kaiten sushi and crowded intersections.
What did you photograph in Japan? The Bōsōzoku? Check your hard drive, you will find them along with Cosplayers, Kitano’s movies and dignified homeless people.
How many diopters have you lost in front of billboards? Were you moved by the Japanese kindness too? Have you ever thought about having sex here?
If you want, I’ll take you to a fun place.
It is just behind these buildings.
But first of all, take off your shoes, speak softly and please no photos. Because the Japanese are beautiful subjects but they don’t like being put on a frame.
And there are so many things they would like to tell you but they can’t. Don’t be fooled by the false modesty of their faux sober beige aesthetic, with its plastic tarps covering the hidden treasure.
Let me tell you a secret: behind these precise and rhythmic facades, you are not welcome.
Do you know why? Because it’s Japan and you probably can’t understand it.Credits:
Photography: Lorenzo Barassi
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2012
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2010
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Tokyo, 2010
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Tokyo, 2016
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Tokyo, 2016