Go

Arguing that many of the people in Japan wear a ‘mask of uniformity’, Bruce Gilden wanted to dig deeper to find persons who were both physical and intense and who, in one way or another, stood out from the others.

What he found, presented here in Go, was an assortment of homeless men and women, day workers, Yakuza (members of traditional organized crime groups in Japan, which is said to be the largest organized crime phenomenon in the world), right-wing nationalists and bosozoku – a subculture where groups of young men and women share a common interest in designing and driving modified cars and motorcycles. He presents another side to the traditional and often stereotypical view of Japanese society, one where not everything is high technology and poverty is rife.

All images have been shot in Tokyo and Osaka, and reveal how violence and hardship weave through many aspects of daily existence in these two sprawling cities.