The concept behind “Showa88,” which has been published in Tokyo by Zen Foto Gallery, requires a little bit of explanation. Along with Western years, Japan also uses an imperial year system, where different periods correspond to the life of each successive emperor. This year, 2012, corresponds to the 24th year of the Heisei period. Before Heisei was Showa, a period that lasted 64 years until 1989. The idea behind “Showa88” is to depict a world in which the Showa period never ended. But, why Showa? For Usui, Showa represents a colorful, vivacious way of life—almost an optimistic attitude of survival in the face of difficult conditions. Usui says that “with photographs, you can only shoot what’s happening now,” and he wondered if he could still find and photograph this Showa feeling in contemporary, comfortable Japan.
Usui’s search took him to some of Japan’s oldest red-light districts in Osaka and Kyoto, where he made many of these photographs. We talked with Kazuyoshi Usui about “Showa88,” the difference between photographs and films and why John Waters is his sensei of “good bad taste.” (This interview is translated from Japanese.)