Suda Issei passed away in Mach 2019. In 1979, the year his best-known work “Waga Tokyo 100” was released, Issei began photographing Tokyo’s Kanda area, where he was born in 1940, in 35mm film. The work was serialized in Asahi Camera from 1982 to 1983, together with commentary by photography critic Masao Tanaka, under the title “Tokyo Modern Pictorial.” Now, forty years later, the series is finally revived in the form of this photobook.

“These photos are not from modern times, although the title says so. They were taken in Tokyo during the 1980s. (…) We say ten years can bring a lot of changes. More than ten years flew by and Mr. Tanaka, who was laughing beside me, has already joined the spirit world. Scenes that have and have not changed—”Tokyo Modern Pictorial” of 2018 is right in front of us. While the present is right before my eyes, “My Tokyo” is occasionally brought back to the modern from 36 years ago. In these images, Tokyo seems to be a melange of different times and remains a world apart from the passage of time.” – from Suda Issei’s afterword (written September 2018)

-Book Size
200 × 200 mm
-Pages
132 pages, 107 images
-Binding
Hardcover
-Publication Year
2020
-Language
:English, Japanese
-Limited Edition700
-ISB
978-4-905453-92-5

Artist Profile

Issei SUDA

Born in Tokyo in 1940. From 1967 to 1970 he worked as the cameraman of the theatrical group Tenjo Sajiki, under Shuji Terayama. He won the 16th Domon Ken Award by his work “Human Memory(人間の記憶)”. His main works are “Fushi kaden”, “Waga-Tokyo 100”, “Ningen no kioku”, “Min'yo sanga” etc..