What kind of era was "Heisei"- Japanese last 30years? Let's focus on Kabukicho -the most famous red light district in Japan to take a back of the period.Many photographers have been fascinated by Kabukicho, but only Korean photographer Yang Seung-woo has been shooting the street for over 20 years. For the first time as a foreigner, he won the "DomonKen Award", which is called the Naoki Award in the photography world. Anyway, he approaches the subject as close as possible. Whatever it's a yakuza or a quarrel scene; he always speaks to them and takes photos. And those photos overwhelm the viewers. However, he said there is something going wrong with Kabukicho, the treasure trove of subjects. At the end of Heisei, I walked with Yan in the town.
― It become harder to feel "human smell" from the sex establishments with dazzling neon and the calling men. At first glance, Kabukicho seems to have not changed much from the past. However, now it is not the drunks who stand out on the street, but the foreign tourists or parents with their children. I can't find a single Yakuza anywhere. “Since the 2004 cleanup operation, the opportunities to shoot yakuza on the streets have decreased,” Yang said. If you look up, you can find security cameras everywhere. Even I walked all night until dawn, I could not feel the anomaly that Yan was photographing. During the era of Heisei, did Kabukicho change into a clean and cool town like any other entertainment district?
-For catching the "heat of people" that still remains in the corner, “even if I walks all night, there are sometimes that I could not get any chance for a single shooting. " Yan said. However, if you walk tenaciously, you can still find the sight of Kabukicho. I got a chance to talk with Yasuhiro Yoshida, a cabaret manager. He has been working in Kabukicho for over 60 years. “Heisei was the era of decline for Neon Streets,” he said. Yang took a lot of photos in the cabaret. Former yakuza Masahiro Furusho opened his mouth when we headed to the izakaya between shootings. He used to make hundreds of millions of Japanese Yen at illegal casinos, but nowadays, he is running a small shop together with his former subordinates until morning every day. "In the past, there were lots of yakuza, and lots of fights, but now is not that time anymore. Kabukicho's fascination has disappeared, but it's my hometown. I’ll die here", he said. Yan said he will continue to shoot the way of Mr. Furusho’s life.
―A “homeless poet” left Kabukicho. In the past, the square in front of the old Koma Theater was crowded with people even at midnight. But now you can only find few people there. "The homeless people are gradually disappearing due to redevelopment towards the Tokyo Olympics", one who lived in this square is known as Gonta said. He was born and raised in a complex family, and then he left home when he was 20 and lives as a homeless in Kabukicho. However, since severe diabetes, he has been receiving public assistance in Kawasaki for several years. Gonta has been writing poems since he was homeless, and Yang takes photos. The two are “friends” who exchange information each other. At the end of Heisei, the two walked through the memorable Kabukicho. The fast food manager gave them some leftovers, a drunken office worker left with canned coffee, all they remembered are Kabukicho, where a diverse group of people gathered, and the "kindness from people" they received. "I wonder it might be Neon which has drowned my loneliness", he said. However, Kabukicho, that accepted Gonta, is no longer there. Looking at Gonta leaving, Yang told us that he would continue to shoot Kabukicho. “The future, the present, and the past are still a little left. I will dig deeper and continue shooting until I die, even in the age of Reiwa”-the new era from 2019, he said. The photographs of Kabukicho by a “crazy” Korean photographer have been thrown straight into our hearts for “the era of Heisei”. The times of Kabukicho you saw are surely in his photos.