Koji Onaka, “Grasshopper”. Published by Tosei-sha in 2007.
Onaka traveled and stroll around small towns in all over Japan.
Of course each photograph was taken at some place, you can check the exact location at index on the book,
but each image itself does not have the clue or landmark that specify where it is.
I can only tell these are Japanese country side. That’s all. And when I see this photobook, the lack of information of the location somehow makes me feel comfortable.
To me, this photobook is Japanese “Uncommon Places”.
I know that Onaka and Stephen Shore, they have completely different styles.
Onaka traveled by train and stroll around while Shore traveled across the States by car.
Onaka shoots with 35mm SLR camera without tripod while Shore uses 8×10 large format camera with tripod.
But they two just did the same thing in two different countries. Traveling by train with smaller camera fits to a small country like Japan. This style was meant to be chosen. Also as a Japanese, Onaka’s images are more lylical.
Like Shore kept a diary and record for food he had, place he stayed etc while he traveled, Onaka also recorded what he ate, stayed etc.
Here are some images from Stephen Shore’s “Uncommon Places”.
Shore’s Diary with images and receipts.
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