Tokyo’s street dwellers are nearly all 50+ males, the theory is that most of them opted out when they lost their jobs back in the 80’s crash. The street settlements are well organized often in pack away form, during the day you just see stacks of cardboard sometimes neat piles of possessions otherwise I think mostly possessions are carried around. The fixed camps are often well equipped with cooking facilities, DVD players and small libraries, particularly in Uneo park, a park principally dedicated to museums, including the very plush (if modernist can be) Museum of Western art. In Ikebukuro I watched the homeless working through the food department in Seibo, think Harrods, they pick up the free taste stuff of which there are a lot, not a bad diet, if a little rich. Most of the street people seem pretty funcitional, I even witness what seems to be a family visit, mother and daughter. People tell me there is a lot of shame involved, failure at work being seen very dimly by a wider society. Kumagai seems a little envious, ‘they dropped out, it’s not a bad life’ and certainly when he describes the work ethic it does make you think, 9am to 9pm being a pretty normal routine often weekends as well. They remind me of the ‘Tramps’ of my childhood, always trudging the roads of Britain, post war drop outs, stopping in for a thermos of hot water, the Pinter character from the Caretaker. The bums are treated with a certain amount of respect and seem to have a degree of freedom re access to places and campsites. I heard they moved a lot of people from Uneo by forced eviction. I saw a tV programme that followed one character who was evicted, he did a very bad mime act to raise money, busking in the most unlikely spots where there were no people, avoiding police, there is no busking in Japan, his act was all black and silent including a full face mask white gloves (Butoh!), it seemed to be mainly pulling a rope thing, basically people laughed at/with him, had their photo taken doing handsigns and gave him money, it was quite weird, the anonymity of it, the kids did nt know who they were talking to, no age definition etc. The programme followed him on a visit to his wife and daughter living respectably in the suburbs. The bums reminded me of the 7 Samurai, all that business man as samurai and loyalty to the company being akin to samurai loyalty to the master and of course the end of an era and becomeing obselete - it all seems a terrible waste of people and skills. An 80’s ad campaign for a tonic drink portrayed the Japanese business man as a samurai warrior imbued (via drink) with incredibly endurance, the jingle became a massive pop hit, ‘Can you fight 24 hrs, business man, business man,
You do see in Tokyo so many signs of vast expenditure on buildings, over the top materials and use of space, the proximity of such colossal waste and relative poverty is as ever a bit incomprehensible and disturbing.
Ikebukuro has the most gigantic department store much favoured by visiting shop frenzy celebs, its pretty grand and really unimaginably vast, my kind of no.1 Ichiban nightmare, thank god Karen was’nt with me, everything you ever imagined you didn’t need.
The main exit of the subway brings you to the principle plaza and the Tokyo Metropolitain arts centre, there is a great out-door stage all kitted out, encircled by carboard encampments and behind that the most colossal art centre, it’s atrium being about the size of the turbine hall at the Tate, the gallery has a local arts exhibition on at the time of my visit. This could be a good site for an event, certainly anything in the line of formal performance would be easily done here.
Where/how did you catch that fish? It's a monster.
Posted by: Jonathan Griffin | March 17, 2006 at 10:46 AM
Walthamstow resevoir, try it, weird. The photo was taken as as part of Guthrie Pope project Broadcast, the Fishermans tale which can be found at http://www.somewhere.org.uk/broadcast/pilgrims/adam/index.htm
Posted by: adam Sutherland | March 20, 2006 at 09:10 AM