Kishin Kaidan｜Shomei Tomatsu pt.2 I Don’t Analyze My Own Photographs
Kishin Kaidan｜Shomei Tomatsu pt.2 is now live.
In this chapter, Shinoyama asks the simplest question—why Okinawa?
Tomatsu’s answer refuses explanation: not politics, not ideology, not a neat “reason”… just love.
He compares it to choosing a spouse: you can’t fully justify it, you can only say, “Because I like her.” (laughs)
From there, the conversation turns sharper. Shinoyama points to Tomatsu’s early VIVO era—the jazz-like physical rhythm, the force of “loving with hatred mixed in”—and wonders if The Pencil of the Sun has become quieter, more restrained.
Tomatsu’s reply is as uncompromising as it is elegant:
he doesn’t analyze his own photographs. He simply accepts how others see them—“Ah, I see.” Nothing more, nothing less.
In the members-only version, pt.2 is presented with:
- the original Japanese text of the interview
- a full English translation
- a full Traditional Chinese translation
