We now have in stock several signed copies of Michio Yamauchi’s 人へ (hito e, or loosely translated as “to others”). Published in 1992, this is, like all of Yamauchi’s work, a very much in-your-face book, but perhaps even more so this time, as the majority of the book’s pages are taken up with faces. But these are far from portraits or posed shots. More often than not, the subjects Yamauchi’s trains his lens on are oblivious to anything other than their immediate concerns.

Almost all the photos were taken in the second half of the 80’s, a time corresponding to the “bubble economy” of a seemingly rich and affluent Japan. On the ground, in the streets, one suspects things weren’t quite so rosy and not everyone felt the trickle down from the upper classes. Yamauchi’s book proves that behind the booming hype, things looked very different.

Yamauchi has maintained his aggressive style up to the present day, as his recent Tokyo 2005 – 2007 (also available in the bookstore signed) shows.