Tokyo’s Packed Subways Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before

[gmat]

Tokyo: The World’s Most Uncomfortable Commute

 

New photo blog from Slate called Behold.

 

The photos are from Michael Wolf's photo book series, Tokyo Compression.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2012/11/14/tokyo_compression_commuter_photos_by_michael_wolf.html?wpisrc=most_viral

 

Michael Wolf's site.

http://photo-michaelwolf.com/#tokyo-compression/1

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[westfalen]

Those people don't look happy.

[bikkuri bahn]

Once again, a foreigner decides to selectively pick and choose something they see in Japan, and blow it all out of proportion: notice the hyperbole and purple language in this comment attributed to the website:

“… The images create a sense of discomfort as his victims attempt to squirm out of view or simply close their eyes, wishing the photographer to go away. Tokyo Compression depicts an urban hell and by hunting down these commuters with his camera, Wolf highlights their complete vulnerability to the city at its most extreme.”

 

what utter bollocks! Now, nobody likes a crowded commute, but I'd rather do it on a clean, punctual train in Tokyo than say, on a bus in LA or San Francisco, with the smell of urine in the back, mentally disturbed homeless suddenly shouting, passengers yakking on their cellphones, and spotty reliability. At least some the comments on the Slate website show some sense and perspective.

[Jace]

Bikkuri, that quote you provided says it all: hunted down indeed. But one correction to that quote, these photographs actually highlight that the people on the the trains are completely vulnerable to the photographer, not the city. While visually interesting, this is very invasive and disrespectful photography.

[cteno4]

I dont really think what he is capturing is a feeling of a cramped commute. not all the faces to me say they are in pain. Part is just capturing folks off guard like that. you can get all sorts of weird looks/poses if you stalk folks with cameras when they are not looking. also i think the photographer has a hand in it as being photographed like that in those situations and being singled out can illicit painful reactions. its even mentioned in the caption at the bottom and i liked the word hunting used there as i have found when folks do this sort of photography of me it is a bit like being hunted.

 

this is one of those situations where there is some interesting photography of facial expression and composition, but it does not tell a clear story, in fact i think it just covers up the real story (if there really is any story) of the person's expression/feeling at the moment. many times a photo can appear to tell a story but thats only inferred by the viewer and may have nothing to do with the actual story.

 

take a camera to any form of commute and folks wont look joyous!

 

jeff

[Mr Frosty]

Reminds me of this. 

 

[disturbman]

Once again, a foreigner decides to selectively pick and choose something they see in Japan, and blow it all out of proportion: notice the hyperbole and purple language in this comment attributed to the website

 

I think you are over-reacting. If you look at his website you see that the work of this photographer as to deal with the "mega-city" and the way humans live them. Read is bio, he is not picking out something he saw in Japan. he has been living in Asia and in congested metropolises for a very long time... The city of origin is not of importance here, the work is not that geographically specific, what is important is what is being depicted: the congestion, and perhaps the pain and alienation, occurring daily in mega-cities. Those pictures could also have been taken in HK, Shanghai, Paris, London, NYC...

 

“… The images create a sense of discomfort as his victims attempt to squirm out of view or simply close their eyes, wishing the photographer to go away. Tokyo Compression depicts an urban hell and by hunting down these commuters with his camera, Wolf highlights their complete vulnerability to the city at its most extreme.”

 

what utter bollocks! Now, nobody likes a crowded commute, but I'd rather do it on a clean, punctual train in Tokyo than say, on a bus in LA or San Francisco, with the smell of urine in the back, mentally disturbed homeless suddenly shouting, passengers yakking on their cellphones, and spotty reliability. At least some the comments on the Slate website show some sense and perspective.

 

I'm sorry but you are just proving you are not getting the point of the photographer's work. You are obviously reacting epidermic-ly to it, perhaps because it relates to Japan and its most obvious clichés.

 

The full text (probably by an art critic or curator and not the artist himself as it is normal practice): "With his most recent series, Wolf moves away from the ‘objective’ detachment of his early work to question the role of the photographer within the city. This is perhaps most evident in Tokyo compression. In this series, he aims his camera at captive passengers pressed against the windows of the crammed Tokyo subway. The density is no longer architectural but human, as commuters fill every available square inch of these subway cars. As with architecture of density wolf uses a ‘no exit’ photographic style, trapping the gaze of the viewer within the frame just as the passengers are unable to escape the confinement of these temporary cells. The images create a sense of discomfort as his victims attempt to squirm out of view or simply close their eyes, wishing the photographer to go away. Tokyo compression depicts an urban hell and by hunting down these commuters with his camera, wolf highlights their complete vulnerability to the city at its most extreme."

 

Personally I find the work striking and beautiful. I have seen and lived this kind moments more than once and it is one of the reasons I no longer live in Paris, I couldn't stand the human density any more. Tokyo is not the only city with pushers.