Kobun Koo Hayakawa's photostream  

Tokyo … a city where countless people constantly come and go. A torrent of people never ceases. Amidst the crowds, people offer a glimpse of inscrutable looks for split seconds. In such moments a person almost changes into someone else – his/her face looks like a mask. A masquerade of one performer and one spectator starts.

In Tokyo, new values are always sought after. A flood of information is collected, analyzed, rebuilt and compiled as if it were based on experiences gained through devoted work, and new values are forwarded. Through logical presentation, credibility of such values increases and they become established as social values over time.

However seemingly permanent values become obsolete and replaced by new values. In Tokyo, people frantically work to forward new values and take them in. Standing still is not acceptable here. We have to identify the demands of systems and society and come up with the “right” answers.

People living in Tokyo have learned to put on a mask through dealing with the ever-changing society – masks that people don’t realize they’re wearing, that are characteristic of Tokyo people. I feel that these are exactly the masks I’ve seen.

I named the journey taken by the societal fighters who live in Tokyo as mask road. I will be happy if viewers are able to feel emblematic figures of people in Tokyo, through this work.


絶えず無数の人が行き交う都市東京。人の波が途切れることはない。そんな雑踏の中で、ほんの一瞬垣間見せる人の生々しさ、まるで別人に変貌した瞬間、その顔は仮面の様だ。演者一人、観客一人の能舞台の開演である。

常に新たな価値観を求める都市東京。溢れる情報を収集、分析、再構築し、まるで自ら心血を注いだ経験のようにまとめあげ、新たな価値観を発信する。理路整然と語れば真実味は増し、やがて組織や社会の価値観となっていく。

この難攻不落と思える価値観もいつかは過ぎ去り、新たな価値観に塗り替えられる。新しい価値観を発信すること、会得することに躍起となる都市東京。立ち止まることは許されない。組織や社会の要求を嗅ぎ分け正解を答えるのだ。

東京で生きる人々が、変化し続ける社会と対峙していく中で、自然と身に付けることを学んだ仮面、本人すら気付いていない仮面、東京人に特徴的な仮面、私が見た仮面とはまさにこれではないかと感じる。

私はこの東京で生きる社会戦士が歩む道程を仮面ロードと名付けた。この作品を通して東京で生きる戦士の姿を感じて頂けたら幸いである。