Flash Up

Softcover | First edition | 190 Pages

Published by Byakuya Shobo, 1980.

Flash Up by Seiji Kurata is one of the most exciting photographic excursions into the seedy parts of 1970s Tokyo. Kurata, a natural who began his photographing career doing workshops with revered greats such as Daido Moriyama and Araki Nobuyoshi, takes us on a journey through the nightclub scene of Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, he shows us glimpses of the cocky, tattooed yakuza underworld and of violent Bosozoku street fights, contrasts car crash victims with portraits of nightclub hostesses and the horny salarymen groping them for money, documents ultra-right wingers in Meiji Jingu and on tour in the countryside.

This is the book that earned Kurata the Ihei Kimura award in 1980. His instinct for finding and framing interesting subjects translates into a remarkable document of the Tokyo nightlife. Unlike the more expressionistic styles of his “Provoke” teachers Moriyama and Nobuyoshi, Kurata’s medium-format photos possess an almost journalistic clarity and carry with them an air of documentary photography without sacrificing a certain energy and sense of immediacy. 

Extremely scarce.

Condition: very good (minor warping/creasing to covers)