citylikeyou — Tokyo / Mariko Sakaguchi

Mariko Sakaguchi is a Tokyo based art photographer who studied at the Hongik University of Art Korea, and at the department of Moving Image and Performing Arts at Tama Art University, Tokyo. Artist Statement: “I am making art works by using photography. I am trying to cross the sense of private and public, and also now and past by taking bath in old style Japanese bathtub and stepping into photography by myself, You can see I take bath anywhere, It means the place you are seeing my works and also the place you are at now are not off-site. The place where you are has possibilities to be the scene of my works. You are not spectator, but party of my work, art. I want to be a part of art with you all.”

http://www.marikosakaguchi.com

Photographer

Current city: Tokyo

marikosakaguchi.com

Tokyo / Place

I have a picnic with friends at every early summer. Our university has a good garden. There is a good spot for picnic. The class of my university start at night. We eat, drink, sing, dance, and finally go for a class.

Tokyo / Attraction

This well in Meiji jingu is called "the power spots" from people recently. It was made by the military commander Kiyomasa Kato. It is not been dry from the Edo Period till today. So it is said that the well has good luck. People set up the photo of the well on their screen saver. Of course also me.

Tokyo / Architecture

This was a tour visit to Umezu's house in Kichijoji. He is the one of most famous cartoonist. The walls are painted in red and white horizontal-striped, Makoto-chan (character of his comics) is on the roof. It became a sightseeing spot in Kichijoji from the day it was built. The dress code of this day follow in his trademark. This house is full of a sense of fun and love for his character.

Tokyo / Shop

Probably I think I spend money most in the life there. It is small store, but it is a sophisticated one. Especially there are good books of art and design. I go there four or five times a week. I wish they make the reward card!

Tokyo / Market

The Tsukiji Market ( Chuo-ku ) If you want to eat Sushi, you should go to Tsukiji not Ginza. This is the biggest market in the world. You can get better quality fish than anywhere else. The auction and cleaning of big fish are worth seeing. I aways come by the first train, take some photo, eat rice bowl dishes.

Tokyo / Shop

Where do you think about this inkfish' home? He live in skyscraper building. That name is "Sunshine City". There are aquarium, observation deck, amusement park, theater, hotel, tailor's shop, restaurant, mansions…etc. It is like a small city! Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. My mother was born there and I grew up there, too. Ikebukuro is a chaotic city. It's got everything from leading-edge department store to bar in the poor quarter of the town. I love this city that have many face.

Tokyo / Illustrator

British illustrator living in Japan

Tokyo / Photographer

Hiroshi Takizawa is a Tokyo based photographer who graduated from Mejiro University Faculty of Human Sciences Department of Psychological Counseling in 2006. Recently Hiroshi was awarded the Tokyo Frontline Photo Award 2012. "The reason why I take pictures is probably due to my desire to know about the root of everything. Of course, there is always more than one essence to things, and opinions differ depending on where you stand. However, there is only one truth. Perhaps, preparation and experience is required to accept this antinomy. It seems difficult to know the root of everything in this antinomy, but I will continue to compare the inside and outside in my works, based on the belief that everything is connected."

Tokyo / Writer

Xiao Yue Shan is a poet, writer, editor, and translator. The collection, then telling be the antidote, won the Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize and is forthcoming in 2023. The chapbook, How Often I Have Chosen Love, won the Frontier Poetry Chapbook Prize and was published in 2019. She has received the New Millennium Award for Poetry and the Juxtaprose Poetry Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, the Artlyst Art to Poetry Award, and the Ambit Poetry Competition. Poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Poetry Magazine, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Poetry Northwest, and more. Prose works have appeared in Granta, 3:AM Magazine, Electric Literature, Cleveland Review of Books, The Shanghai Literary Review, and more. Poem-films have shown in festivals in London, Vienna, New York City, and Athens. Her work has been supported by the Canadian Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and Arts Council Tokyo. She runs the Beijing-based, bilingual literary journal Spittoon Literary Magazine, and edits Tokyo Poetry Journal and the Asymptote Journal blog. Her website is shellyshan.com

Tokyo / Graphic Designer

Tokyo based artist and designer from London specializing in graphic design and art direction.

Tokyo / Photographer

Mari Kojima was born in Shimane, Japan, but since then has spent time on and off living abroad. Because of a family crisis at home, she returned back to Japan in 2008, and soon after discovered photography as a means to express the inner turmoil and happiness that exists within her. Besides taking photos, she has worked as a fashion designer assistant, curator, FM radio DJ, project manager, event planner. Since Fall 2010, she started running a little publishing company called Bathysphere Books. She now works and lives in Tokyo.

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