Big underground shopping malls. Places with names such as "Aurora Town",
"Beautiful Land", "Hearty Land" or "Pleasure Land" where one can walk for
kilometers. All is clean and there's always some music playing. Each place
has its own melody, and sometimes one just hears birds singing out of the
speakers. No graffiti, no teens hanging around skateboarding or
inline-skating. Everyone is very disciplined. I think about this earthquake
building up under ground, due to blow up some day. But I'm no prophet, I'm a
photographer.
Let me comment a couple of pictures. Take the old woman under the steel
construction, for instance. I saw the old woman several times in the shopping
center, but there was no chance to take a good picture. I then found this
place, and waited there, taking pictures of different people. The old woman
then came across and I got my picture. Not out of luck, out of intuition.
Or that picture with the "Caster" advertising. I don't know how many
kilometers I had to do in Sapporo to find a place from which to get one
picture of these houses. I saw them from the bus, went off and came back.
When studying my work, you will always find a story going from picture to
picture - that is, if you want to find one.
I got the comic strip from one of the most famous magazines. I made a
reproduction. The next picture of my series shows reality. The next the bad
wolf and then Red Ridding Hood. That's what I mean by "taking pictures with
my stomach". First you have to create a concept, and then to forget it and
use your guts.

December, 1999