Tokyo Attribute is a collection of portraits of different people whom I meet and photograph on Omotesandō Avenue in Tokyo`s Shibuya district.
In my work, I portray individuality in relation to fashion, expression, mood, and behavior in young generation.
Despite the extensive damage suffered in countless air raids during World War II, the avenue has evolved into the center of youth cultures and fashion trends in Tokyo
after experiencing an economic boom made possible by several factors such as the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. In modern age, vitality of this area attracts the creatives.
Seeing a variety of the young people at this place has impressed me ever since I started this project in 2012.
Although many Japanese women traditionally attend Coming of Age ceremonies wearing a furisode, a type of kimono,
there was once one woman who attended the ceremony wearing a pompadour haircut, a vintage dress and her brother's leather jacket.
I met her on the avenue after her ceremony had ended and she said:“I want to be in an unconventional style.”
A 19 years-old gay boy wearing a hooded black fur coat told me without any hesitation: “When I came out as gay at the age of 16 years old, my high school friends accepted my sexual orientation unconditionally,
so I could get free from the stereotype of man or woman. Now I can express myself with my own fashion beyond the gender.”
He continued: “I don't join any gay communities because I live my life as usual in society, not in a certain community.
As if symbolizing the open-minded ambience of this area, Shibuya district is forging ahead in support of the human rights of sexual minorities and it began issuing same-sex partnership certificates for the first time in Japan in 2015.
When I see their outfits and hear the stories like the above, I gain a glimpse of new attitude toward tradition, society.
