Hakodate, 2009 (medium format camera)

Finalist, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Gold Coast City Gallery, 10 April 2010 - 23 May 2010



I am living in the small city of Hakodate, in the far north of Japan. Hakodate was one of five ports open to the world when the rest of Japan was closed. At that time, more than a hundred years ago, it was a busy cosmopolitan hub of trade. Again, in the 50's and 60's it was alive. Fishermen from Japan, China, Russia brought their catch here, sold it to the great canning companies, took their money and spent it in the entertainment district. Then the seas were segmented and internationalized, and Hakodate lost its second breath.

The city celebrates its 150th anniversary. The people are searching for a way to revive those lost days - or at least to understand what has been lost. Sachiyo makes a cabaret. She puts it in the heart of the city's celebrations. She is asking us to remember.

the hakodate eighty - August 2007 - December 2008
(medium format camera)