Nobuyoshi Araki

For a better examples of Nobuyoshi's photography please visit this link. Warning: Adult Content.

Araki Nobuyoshi is one of modern Japan's most notorious photographers. His official site can be viewed by clicking this link (Please note, the site is in Japanese). Araki started making professional photos in the 1960s. He started by taking pictures of people’s faces. From then on he experimented greatly with photography, the focus mainly being on people, or other aspects of life.

In the 1980’s, Araki started playing with the erotic side of his photography. His photos commonly feature nudity in various forms. Some of his photos are inspired by old Japanese woodblock paintings, while others are scenes of severe bondage.

The overt sexuality displayed in his photos ran into issues with Japanese censorship laws, as they sit on the invisible line between art and pornography. These issues were occasionally avoided by Araki painting over photographs or other artistic techniques, such as boiling the photo development fluids.

Araki does not focus on anything specifically Japanese, but he describes his art as snapshots of life. He seems to photograph what he pleases, and is very energetic and passionate about it. What he seems to love to photograph the most is people in any way, shape or form, and the way he captures these little moments of life can be very refreshing.

My first reaction to his photography was honest disgust. I came across my first photograph of his looking for another photographers work. Naturally it was a bondage photo, and it honestly scared me that someone would want to take a picture so graphic. However, after watching Arakimentari, I've seen a greater variety of his work and like a lot of his photos, just not the graphic ones. I recommend the film if you wish to learn more about this photographer.

Bibliography:

Arakimentari. Dir.Travis Klose. Troopers Films, 2004.

Photos provided by: McNeill, David. "Eros & Death: The World of Araki Nobuyoshi ." Japan Focus. 27 Feb 2009 .

Karaoke Nights

-TV: Now With Lyrics-

Karaoke is well known abroad, although the appeal isn’t always understood. It’s embarrassing to be singing in front of others, and it makes no sense to pay for such embarrassment. However, when you realize that everyone else around sucks at singing as much as you, it’s easier to open up and belt out your favorite song.

In Hirakata, it’s rather common for students to hang out at the local karaoke establishment, Ring, on weekends. Although Ring offers other things to do besides karaoke, the 20 booths are usually filled by 8pm for late night singing parties. Ring does not provide alcohol unlike the usual karaoke bar, but is subsequently cheaper, and does provide free soda.

-Ring-

Ring has at least three different brands of karaoke machines spread throughout the different booths, each with similar, but different song collections. One machine may have your favorite song on it, when another may be missing it. Overall, the English song selection is vast and wide, with the Japanese selection being downright exhaustive. Each machine has a unique portable song selection device. From there you can choose a song by artist, title or a top-hit chart listing.

But what if the song you’re dying to sing isn’t available on your machine? Make friends, and join them!

The doors to the booths at Ring have windows in them so everyone can see you singing, even though they can’t hear you. People will look in your window to see who’s in there. Invite them in, maybe they’ll invite you over. Leave the karaoke area every now and then and see if anyone in the lobby wants to sing. Remember: half the people are drunk, and none of them can sing. The people you’re with make karaoke fun; don’t miss out on an opportunity to make your evening more exciting.

-Singing in one of the less colorful rooms [picture taken by Bryan]-

The Gestures of Kindness

I had stopped riding my bike for a second because it was raining and I couldn’t see out my glasses. A middle-aged lady came up to me. She asked me, in Japanese, if I had an umbrella and offered me hers. I was very touched by her gesture. She made my week by doing that.

In America, I hear all the time that the Japanese can be rather cautious of foreigners. I’ve personally experienced nothing short of utter kindness from everyone I’ve met. I do not think it is common for strangers to offer umbrellas to one another, but there is a genuine sense of hospitality here.

-Entryway to A Homstay-

My friend invited us to visit his former home stay family. When we arrived, the family fed us for four hours straight. This was after giving us a very high amount of money for transportation costs. They also put us up for the night. I felt like I was drowning in hospitality, but this is the Japanese way, or at least an example that I’ve seen demonstrated quite a lot. Guests are very fussed over.

-The Living Room Where We Slept-

The greatest part is that all of the actions feel genuine. Smiles are not plastic, and cultural faux pas are corrected without fuss. The Japanese people may be known for keeping to themselves, but they certainly express themselves with services to others.

My Somewhere: Hirakata

-One View of Hirakata-

When I first came here, I thought Hirakata was a large city I had just never heard of. It turns out that most of Japan is this dense, and major cities just get denser. Coming from the suburbs, I feel like this might as well be Tokyo.

One of the nice things about Hirakata, and probably most of Japan, is that small businesses still exist. Where I'm from, anything that's not a name brand can't make it, and sometimes even the name brands fall to bigger giants. The small businesses make Hirakata seem more like a small town, because the services you can find are very personal and specific.

-Ostrich:Tastes Like Pot Roast-

My friends and I have been to several restaurants and stores in the past two weeks, and the person in charge has usually tried to talk to us and ask us about where we're from. When we went to buy our bikes, the shopkeeper had a conversation with us about Obama. When we went to go eat ostrich at a restaurant, the manager came and had a casual conversation with us. There have been several times when we couldn’t read the menu and the workers struggled to speak English so we could understand. I think if that happened in America, you’d just be left to wonder what you were paying for. It's nice to see that kind of service and dedication to the customers.

-Hirakata: View From A Park-

Early Impressions of Japan

So I’m in Japan. If I had to describe to describe my overall thoughts this week in three words and an exclaimation they would be “Oh, they really do that.”

I don’t know what I came here expecting. I really don’t. I just expected differences, and to have deal with them. So far I've done that, but they still catch me off guard.

I’ve read about the taxi’s whose doors open for you, the jam packed trains, the crowded housing areas, the variety of vending machines, the many temples, the electric-wonder toilets, and the sometimes unique food. But every time I see one of these things, or something cultural happens, I realize I didn’t actually believe anything I may have read in the past.

-Soda and Cigs: Japanese Vending Machines-

There's also a different mindset towards things. It's kind of evidenced below. When my friends and I took a trip to Kyoto we saw this ad that my friend, Justin, took a photo of: Cute animal park? A daycare? Graves?
Graves!

-Why My Window Can't Be Seen Through: View from my Room-

I suppose it is to give the buyer a feeling of relaxation that they’ll be OK after they die. To me it seems reminiscent of the creep factor in these ads for an American law firm.

But the longer I’m in Japan, the more I can see the benefits and negative aspects of the different lifestyle and thinking here. Sure, it’s great that Japan has a hyper organized recycling plan, but they don’t recycle paper. Yes, the pump showers in my dorm save water, but what is saved in water is wasted on electricity for the same dorm's electric, heated toilets. I think I can learn a lot here comparing and contrasting cultures and I hope to write about that a bit here.
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