Tokyo Stories

As part of Paris Photo 2024’s focus on Japan, Studio Equis presents, with the support of Epson, an exceptional exhibition Tokyo Stories, at Artcurial from 8–15 November 2024.

With close to 100 rare prints, many of which have previously never been seen outside of Japan, Tokyo Stories reveals the multiple faces of Tokyo from the 1930s until the present day through the works of three of Japan’s leading photographers: Hiroshi Hamaya, Tadahiko Hayashi and Shigeichi Nagano.

As a native of Tokyo, the city naturally became Hamaya’s first photographic subject. His images taken in the 1930s reveal a mysterious and exotic city, light years away from the megalopolis we know today.

Hayashi captured the physical devastation of Tokyo in the aftermath of the Pacific War and the determination of its inhabitants to build a better future amidst the rubble.

Nagano’s photographs of the city over the last 50 years bear witness to the radical changes the city underwent during its modernisation whilst still holding onto its traditional past.

Tokyo is a city of contrasts, a kaleidoscope of images, where the futuristic present thrives alongside the traditional past. This exhibition presents these multiple faces of Tokyo: student protests, political intrigues, the birth of ‘salarymen’ and their endless workdays, geishas, prostitutes, street orphans, writers, artists, designers and fashionistas, ... all of these characters collide to create this city of layers and contrasts.

Artcurial, Hôtel Dassault
7 rue du Rond-Point des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris
T: +33 (0)1 42 99 20 20,

Photos: © Copyright 2024 . Studio Equis .