Pierfrancesco Celada was in Japan a couple of months ago working on a long-term project about Japanese cities. This video is the result of some time he spent at Magnum’s New York office. It may tend a little towards the “sad Japan” angle, but it’s only showing a small segment of Pierfrancesco’s work. It’s sometimes hard to find sensible work made about Japan by foreign photographers, but Pierfrancesco has a good attitude about Japan, and I’m sure that the final project won’t be full of despair. He’s actually held back some of his best shots from this video.
BONUS PIERFRANCESCO CELADA VIDEO:
Here he is interviewed on the streets of Osaka by a Japanese TV show. (Skip to about 1:00) Pierfrancesco plays a very good straight man to the hosts.
What an odd question. I thought: “Japan”? 「日本」? “Giappone”?
But then I looked at both videos. After the second, I got the answer: IDIOCRACY.
If it isn’t obvious enough already, all they need do is rename the show “Ow, my balls!” and have their two would-be comics hand out cans of Brawndo.
As for the photography, I liked the split-second view of a chef in a phone booth (I think).