Satellite Voices

Tokyo / 日本語

In Pictures: Tokyo

December 26, 2011

As 2011 comes to a close we pick out our favourite images of the year

• Text by Satellite Voices

Tokyo's new blood continues to push the boundaries of heartbreaking intimate art with a push to the future. With fresh eyes, the city's youth continue to ensure that Tokyo is responsible for some of the freshest imagery in the world whilst Japanese icons are just that.

Emi Kameoka chooses her top three images of 2011 in Tokyo.

1. "Colpoesne" by Hanayo
Photographs of moments and landscapes as real as they are imagined comprise a recent anthology - "Colpoense" - from Japanese artist and musician Hanayo. With a simple production trick, Rupert Smyth's art direction partitions what is public and what is personal for the established photographer by linking the photographs in a series of sealed accordion pages.

2. Nobuyoshi Araki's "Higan"
On Friday night at the Rathole Gallery in Omotesando a gleeful crowd gathered to see the latest offering from Nobuyoshi Araki. With the man himself present the slightly overexcited attendees fluttered their feathers and hustled to get a chance to chat to, arguably, Japan’s most well known photographer.

3. Marcel Castenmiller's Tokyo Diary
Marcel Castenmiller is a young Canadian photographer documenting his real but magical Tokyo moments, expanding his world with daily photos. They tell us that everyday things are the beautiful things we should never forget.