| Abstract: |
Objective: To examine the work of Hashiguchi George, a Japanese social documentary photographer, and the ways in which his work provides a commentary and analysis of Japanese society.
Design: Review of Hashiguchi’s motives, methods, and published work.
Subjects and Setting: 10+ photographic books containing Hashiguchi’s work, featuring black-and-white portraits with printed discourse between Hashiguchi and subject. 1999 television documentary about Hashiguchi’s work with Japanese 17-year-olds, visited and photographed in both 1988 and 1998.
Intervention(s): N/A
Outcome Measure(s): N/A
Results: Hashiguchi’s objective is to gain a better understanding of Japan and Japanese people, particularly those who are marginalized and living outside of Tokyo. He wishes to portray both a spirit of individuality as well as a sense of group-belonging by examining different ways in which individuals experience their lives as members of Japanese society. Hashiguchi also wishes to counter the negative social effects of mass media, which often portray a single set of cultural and social values. To achieve these objectives, Hashiguchi conducts fieldwork, visiting various regions of Japan and asking each of his subjects the same set of questions for each book. The portraits of his subjects, always printed in large format black and white, have straight-forward body posturing and include information about how and where each subject lives.
Conclusion: Through his portraits of and discourse with Japanese people, Hashiguchi George portrays the uniqueness of each of his subject’s life experiences, with methods similar to that of social scientists. © Center on Media and Child Health |
