[Limited to 1000 copies] WE HAVE NO PLACE TO BE:1980-1982 / We Can't Stay Anywhere 1980-1982 by Joji Hashiguchi Photobook

About the productJapanese

A collection of works by Japanese photographer Joji Hashiguchi. Along with his highly acclaimed debut work Gaze (1981, winner of the 18th Taiyo Award), We Can't Stay Anywhere: Teenagers in a Rough World (Soshisha, 1982) is an important early work that built the foundation for the photographer's career spanning more than 40 years. This 256-page book, which contains 139 black-and-white photographs, including over 30 unpublished works, was supervised and edited by Hashiguchi himself, and features two-tone matte varnish printing, making it a fascinating read that evokes the realism of the time.

When society began to move in one direction, boys ran out of their homes and schools and took to the streets. Breaking out of the framework of a prescribed way of life was a "battle" for these boys. The author pursued the image of such young people in Tokyo through "Shisen" in the early 1980s. After that, the author's consciousness turned from the streets of Tokyo to the outside of Japan.

Hashiguchi, who listened to The Beatles in his high school days, begins by standing on the streets of Liverpool, England, and London. After coming across a book titled "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" (We Are the Children of the Zoo Station) by Christiane F. (1978), Hashiguchi travels from England to the West German cities of Nuremberg and West Berlin. The author, who sympathized with the Beatnik movement, then travels to New York. He travels to five cities and attempts to portray the image of each city through the eyes of boys on the streets.

America was exhausted by the Vietnam War. Britain was suffering from a worsening recession and unemployment under the Thatcher administration. West Germany was at the forefront of the Cold War. Japan was beginning to see the birth of a controlled society. Through this book, "We Can't Stay Anywhere 1980-1982," we reexamine what meaning the image of young people in the 1980s has in the present day.

There are many works in the history of world photography that focus on young people. For example, Danny Lyon, Karlheinz Weinberger, Bruce Davidson, Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, and Joseph Szabo have left behind works capturing young people gathering on the streets, such as motorbike riders and street gangs. William Klein and Ed van der Elsken also traveled around major cities around the world to take street photos from the 1950s to the 1960s. However, this work, which focuses on the appearance of "young people on the streets" in the 1980s, traveling not only to Tokyo but also to Europe and the United States, can be said to be a valuable photo book.

Another appeal of Hashiguchi's work is that, without actively communicating with them, he is able to reveal the natural expressions of the people on the street, stripping away their emotional armor. This is because the photographer's gaze, capturing the young people clumsily resisting despite being overwhelmed by society's contradictions and authority, is not that of a bystander raising social issues, but rather a sincere attitude in which he sympathizes with these people on the street as human beings and turns his lens towards them. Hashiguchi also says, "The fact that I'm Asian was a big part of why they accepted having their photographs taken..."

Since its original publication in 1982, "We Can't Stay Anywhere: Teenagers in a Troubled World" has had a huge influence on the next generation of photographers and artists. In the preface to this book, artist and painter Yoshitomo Nara speaks to us living today in warm words, touching on the inspiration he received from the work and his own experiences in his youth. Includes commentary by photography researcher Mika Kobayashi.

Product Information

release date February 2020

Part numberGPHT10859J-9780578429083

Specification Softcover / 210 x 290mm / 256p

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