Japanese Valentines
About « Japanese Valentines »
I started this project when I first moved to Japan, back in 2019.
I was interested in how relationships worked in the country, so I started shooting portraits, mostly black and white, of lovers on the streets of Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo.
On a trip to the countryside, two hours north of Okayama, I got the chance to spend some time with locals in a local rural community. I expressed my wish to photograph couples in these villages and from there, that project started to grow.
The more I’d shoot portraits, the more people would later on contact me to be photographed.
You can meet these persons in your everyday’s life: they work in factories, farms, own local businesses and so on. By shooting these portraits, I also wanted to break away from the stereotypical vision of Japan: idols, big cities, etc.
Japan is a big country with a very large population, so I thought it would be more interesting to shoot in these communities, rather than in much bigger cities.
Here’s a sample of what I shot, on this project, to be continued.
The Namba's posing inside their cycles shop, Okayama, Japan.
The Oi's seen posing inside the family temple, Okayama, Japan.
The Taguchi's seen posing in front of one of their local garage tow truck, Okayama, Japan.
The Seno s seen inside the local JR train station, with themselves working both as station manager and local transportation company owner, Okayama, Japan.
The Nishimura s posing by the local train station on their scooter, Okayama, Japan.
The Fukai s, once former town mayor, posing in their farmland, Okayama, Japan.
The Okamoto s posing by one of their fields, Okayama, Japan.
The Namba s posing by their sports cars, Okayama, Japan.
The Ogawa s posing by the entrance of their local convenience store, Okayama, Japan.
The Mikami s posing by the main Street of the local village, Okayama, Japan.
The Adachi s posing by their house in their mini golf outfit, Okayama, Japan.
The Okazaki s posing by one of their flowers field, Okayama, Japan.
The Yasuda s posing by their family home, Okayama, Japan.