KATSUMI WATANABE - GANGS OF KABUKICHO

KATSUMI WATANABE
GANGS OF KABUKICHO

Published by PPP editions, 2006
Book size 29.5 x 20.5 cm
Pages 160 Pages
155 duotone b&w images
Softcover
Language English
ISBN 9780971548039

The subjects of itinerant Tokyo portrait photographer Watanabe Katsumi's 1960s and 70s photographs are the prostitutes, street people, drag queens, entertainers and gangsters (Yakuza) that populated night-time Kabukicho, the red light district of Shinjuku. Watanabe made his living by selling these photographs to his subjects, offering three prints for 200 yen. Captivating as they are intriguing, the duotone images that fill this edition demonstrate the keen sensitivity of a photographer who managed to capture his fascinating collection of subjects in natural and uninhibited postures.

A collection of photographs taken in Tokyo in the 1960s and 1970s by Watanabe Katsumi. The subjects are the prostitutes, street people, drag queens, artists, and gangsters (Yakuza) who populated the nightlife of Kabukicho, Shinjuku's red-light district. Watanabe made his living selling these photographs to his subjects, offering three prints for 200 yen. Captivating and intriguing, the two-tone images that fill this edition demonstrate the keen sensibility of a photographer who managed to capture his fascinating collection of subjects in natural, uninhibited postures.