cardinal city

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S: cardinal city

BC: Tokyo, 2009

FC: cardinal city

1: Tokyo September 2009

3: I am wholly absorbed here, in this, the most populous city in the world. Another body in a city of millions. But I ride near-empty trains, and find few queues. These are not the only things that surprise me about Tokyo. Tokyo is not how I remember it. Nor is it how I had imagined. From outside, Tokyo is an expanse of lights, all business and no-smiles salarymen. The city is of such a size that it is difficult to comprehend it being anything but stiff. Even from within it, the city’s demeanour, brooding and serious, is so apparent, it seems impossible to penetrate. This is the thing that frustrates so many foreigners. And perhaps a foreigner, no matter how eager, will never be able to truly understand the city. | But Tokyo is easily pricked. And, while we cannot see the entire picture, it is possible to understand brief scenes within it. Here, nothing – not even the smallest of details – is redundant. Far from anything being lost in this, a city of such importance, every thing feels significant. The city is certainly civilized, and it does feel somewhat inhibited. But Tokyo is a little chancy too. There are moments, brief moments, when you can feel it let go. The double-exposures contained in this book are an attempt to capture something of this animated metropolis.