Tokyo underground / Ryoichi Maeda versus Shizuo Maeda
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Tokyo underground
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I’ve known Ryoichi Maeda for over 10 years. He’s come to see me in North America many times, but this was the first time that I had a chance to visit him in all that time. He was very gracious in letting me stay at his place and being my general host and promoter. He introduced me to his dad who lived not far away. The photo of Ryoichi was taken at The Getto while his father was shot outside in the park. |
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Tokyo underground / Mar versus Miho
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| Mar outside The Ghetto | Miho, legendary Japanese sex / fetish performer | |
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Tokyo underground / Akatsuki Ai versus elmo man
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
Tokyo underground / karaoke sex wrestling
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| one-armed Octopus-Woman | versus rabbit-eared red ninja | |
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Tokyo underground / Jerome as guest of honor
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
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Tokyo is legendary because it is Tokyo… the underground in Tokyo is legendary because it is the underground in Tokyo. The Department-H fetish party has been running every month for the past 15 years. It changes venues every now and then, but it is the longest running freakazoid fetish sex anything-goes party in Tokyo. Other people are in charge of the sex stuff, but Ryoichi often contributes to the freak element of the party. He’s connected, promotes, helps finds performers, delegates… he’s a pretty involved person. On that level alone it is clear why he is considered to be Japan’s pre-eminent underground photo-journalist. I’ve known what I’ve known for ten years, it was an entirely different scenario to hang out and work with the man on a daily basis in Tokyo for about two weeks. Ryoichi and I had booked the dates of my Tokyo exhibit around the CMWC and then the Department-H Saturday night party was a bonus. He arranged to have me as a guest of honor, which was really flattering. I always just feel like me, but it’s crazy what public perception can be based on images from 10 years ago… the crowd was wild. The added bonus is that it basically gave me a platform to say “I came all the way from Montreal Canada to take your photo”. In a day and age where everybody has a camera (take a good look at the paparazzi crowd above for the sex wrestling) it was a significant advantage for me as the non-Japanese speaking dude with a camera to have that part translated on stage. I had people lining up to get their photos taken afterwards, it made my job a lot easier. The entire experience was surreal and it was beyond amazing on a personal, artistic and professional level to be finally living this dream of working and shooting in a crazy place like Tokyo. |
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Tokyo underground / Takahashi before versus Takahashi after
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| needle face play |
she said making this face hurt…
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Tokyo underground / Miyu versus hostess girl
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| Miyu |
hostess girl
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Tokyo underground / alien freak versus dominatrix
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| alien freak |
dominatrix
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Tokyo underground / girl with shit on a stick vs tattooed man
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| I think she was the Shit Fairy… |
tattooed man in bathroom
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Tokyo underground / Miho on stage versus pyjama boy
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| Miho on stage |
pyjama boy
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Tokyo underground / dancing monster vs dancing monster
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
| only in Japan… monster perverts dancing past 6AM, while german 80s techno blasts in the background… and bonus, the guy to the left is bustig a DRI move!! Yes, I saw them leave together… | ||
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Tokyo underground / indirect portrait of a very strange man
posted December 13th, 2009categorized under Department H, Tokyo underground
I saw all kinds of weird shit in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to shoot lots of it, but on the flipside, a lot of the stuff I did or people I met were not photographed because I didn’t have permission. They can be ultra strict and private about photography in Japan.
I saw this dude with a booth in the vendor section at Department H. He was intense… I asked if I could take a photo of him, but he said no. As did the dude jerking off next to him. But he did let me take photos of his sign and the collector toys he was selling. He sat there until 7am chainsmoking.
I wonder how many of the breasted she-wolf-bear-fang things he sold that night…
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