In 1995, the multitalented Kyoichi Tsuzuki created a gorgeous, encyclopaedic book that visually documented the messy apartments of creative friends and acquaintances. The photography was beautiful, though Tsuzuki did not at the time consider himself a photographer, or have aspirations to be called an artist.
Using the format of a typology, and thus focusing on what is photographed, rather than on the personal vision of the photographer, one of the aims of the "Tokyo Style" series was to counter the stereotype of Japanese people being fastidiously tidy and all living in Zen-inspired minimalist homes. Tsuzuki followed this rigorous study of vernacular living spaces with the publication of "Roadside Japan," an inventory of the weird and whacky miscellany that can be found if you are on the lookout for the crass rather than the "classy."
The material for "Erotopia Japan," currently showing at the Atsuko Barouh venue in Shibuya, comes partly out of this gonzo road-trip project.