Chikao TAKAHASHI

"Time after the Day 3/11/2011"

Hardcover
Pages: 88 / photos: 73
Size: 236x207x15mm / 590g
Price: 3,500JPY
Release Date: November 2015

Soon after the earthquake I was alone walking on and on along the seashore.
The ruins stretched endlessly before my eyes.
I thought living on the earth might be a gift that is given to humans,
for all the things man made were completely destroyed.
Destroyed were so many things in so vast an area that I thought
it would take more than ten years to reconstruct them.
The tsunami took away from us the sphere of our life
that had several hundred years of history.

Under a devastated situation people began to search for the victims,
remove the debris and support the people that were affected.
The support came not just from the neighboring regions.
From all over Japan and abroad manpower as well as material support continued
to come for a long time.
We can still see the materials carried by the vehicles with different regional
license plates and people in work clothes with different regional logos working
from dawn till dusk with no day off.

I remember many people stood along the seashore and faced the sea on the cold,
still dark New Year’s morning, quietly waiting for the first sunrise of the year.
Though not many days had passed since the devastating disaster they suffered that
came from the ocean, people came close to the waterside and tried to trust the sea
with their future happiness, with their wishes.
I thought, “How strong humans are!”

This photo-book is a product of dialogues I had with myself when I took photographs
as a resident of the disaster-stricken area, thinking about the relations between
man and nature.
For the support I received in the publication of this work, I would like to show
my gratitude to my teachers who guided me in my graduation work at Kyoto University of
Art and Design, Tosei-sha, and all persons involved.


(Excerpts from the author's afterword)