Seiji Kurata, Flash up
by Xavier Encinas
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.
“I was earnestly seeking the medium for my expression, but had not yet found the answer. Surely I was being drawn inexorably into the world of television, about to join forever the legions of zombies.”
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