ANNOUNCEMENT:「Tachinomiya: Photo Exhibition as Post-Fieldwork Encounter」- Society for East Asian Anthropology Regional Conference 2019 in Tokyo

If you happen to be in Tokyo this weekend please check out my presentation and other fine papers at the Society for East Asian Anthropology Regional Conference at Waseda University.

Tachinomiya: Photo Exhibition as Post-Fieldwork Encounter

Thesis: The “Tachinomiya: There are Two Sides to Every Noren” research project is a visual ethnography based upon one year of fieldwork at a local drinking establishment in Japan examining photography in public, privacy issues and image rights. The intended final product was a photo exhibition with prints illustrating the atmosphere of the shop along with portraits of the owner, employees and regular customers. But rather than a final product I found the exhibition and interactions with the gallery audience to be a source of important data about the photographs, the subjects and spectators. Viewers were doing more than merely looking at my photographs, they were analyzing, scrutinizing, reacting and providing various interpretations and valuable feedback, shedding light in terms of heuristic processes, meaning-creation, evocation and multivocality. In this presentation I will discuss the "post-fieldwork encounters" of the photo exhibition as a research method and a collaborative media event along the lines of the relatively new multimodal perspective in visual anthropology.

Session Information:

Saturday, August 3 from 14:00-15:45

Room 710, Building 19

Graduate School of Asian-Pacific Studies

Waseda University

Tokyo, Japan

Preliminary Full Schedule: http://seaa.americananthro.org/2019/06/seaa-draft-program-regional-conference-august/

Click below for more about the project:

Photo Exhibition and Visual Ethnography - "Tachinomiya: There Are Two Sides to Every Noren"

How to create your own personal bubble of oblivion -or- private space in a public setting

I don't usually take photos on the train but I couldn't resist last night when I saw this isolated soul wearing a personal mini-fan unit (one fan on each side connected by a neck wrap-around), surgical mask and bluetooth earbuds absorbed in a video game on his smartphone, oblivious to the world around him. I am well aware that there is an expected privacy in public in Japan especially when it comes to photography. I quickly snapped the photo and looked around to see if anybody heard the shutter sound. Everyone was wearing earphones so I got away with it... At least the guy wasn't sitting in a priority seat. All too often we see people sitting in such seats oblivious to disabled people, elderly people or pregnant women who actually need the seats...

"The standing bars of Osaka: Cheap, cheerful and nostalgic" & The Beginning of a New Tachinomiya Project

Unbeknownst to the visual anthropologist, he is caught in the act 

of research. Photo by his significant other parked across the street.

One of my tachinomiya field sites is closing at the end of this month so I have been rushing to do some salvage ethnography, trying to record the unique shop before it closes. I have no concrete plans for the research data and photos at this time (a few ideas though) but the rush is on.

A recent article in The Japan Times by Matt Kaufman seems to confirm the relevance of tachinomiya to contemporary Japanese society and validate my research. Read on and continue to check out VAOJ for the results of the new project. 

"The standing bars of Osaka: Cheap, cheerful and nostalgic" in The Japan Times, 11/10/18:

Across Japan, tucked down quiet alleyways or occupying the corner shops at busy intersections, you’ll see tachinomiya. Often translated a “standing bar,” there are two very distinct types of tachinomiya: licensed restaurants and small, privately owned liquor shops (sakeya no tachinomi).

The origin of the latter tachinomi can be traced to the Edo Period (1603-1868), when sake shops started offering customers a quick tipple from square wooden measuring cups known as masu.

These shops evolved into modern liquor stores during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) when they started selling beer, wine and spirits such as whisky, and installed makeshift counters, often made by balancing a slab of wood on stacks of empty beer crates.

Different regions have their own names for these shops. In Tohoku they are called mokkiri and in eastern Japan they are known as tachikyū. But, in recent years kaku-uchi, the type of tachinomi that originated in Kitakyushu and spread to Tokyo during the industrial revolution, has become the catch-all term used to describe these shops.

Some are well over 100 years old: Matsugawa Saketen in Kyoto has been owned by the same family since the beginning of the Meiji Era; in Osaka, there is an old liquor shop named Shibacho that has been in the same spot for 152 years; and in Tokyo, you can drink at Suzuden, which dates back to 1853.

After World War II, thousands of unlicensed tachinomiya started appearing across the country. In 1949, the government reclassified tachinomiya as restaurants in order to collect taxes. Liquor shops with standing bars were not licensed to cook food on the premises, but canned food and snacks such as dried squid were permitted to be served.

Owners also found loopholes to get around the rules, especially in Osaka. Food is brought in from outside, and nowadays it is easily heated up in the microwave. Chairs are still prohibited, but mismatched stools are kept scattered about just in case an elderly customer with a “bad leg” needs to sit down for a minute.

The author goes on to provide brief snapshot descriptions of three famous local shops. Check out the whole story at the source.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2018/11/10/food/standing-bars-osaka-cheap-cheerful-nostalgic/

Related VAOJ posts:

Photo Exhibition and Visual Ethnography - "Tachinomiya: There Are Two Sides to Every Noren"
https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2016/01/photo-exhibition-and-visual-ethnography.html

AJJ Presentation - Tachinomiya: Photo Exhibition as Research Method
https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2017/12/ajj-presentation-tachinomiya-photo.html

Shooting Culture in Japan Series
http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2009/02/ethics-of-visual-anthropology-in-japan_12.html

"Complaint filed against police in Oita over hidden cameras"

From Japan Today, 8/13/16.

The administrator of a building used by opposition party supporters and a labor union chapter filed a complaint against the Oita prefectural police on Friday for trespassing and secretly installing cameras on the premises in June.

The police vowed to “thoroughly investigate” the incident, which took place around the time official campaigning for the House of Councillors election got under way.

Last week, they admitted that on June 18 two of their officers had installed two cameras in the grounds of the building in Beppu city in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan, without the permission, for the purpose of monitoring the actions of certain individuals.

The police have yet to reveal why they felt it necessary to install the cameras, which were in place through June 24, and who they were monitoring.

The building is home to a support group for the Social Democratic Party, a small opposition party, and a regional body linked to the Oita chapter of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo.

The cameras were set up at two different locations—one covering the building’s entrance and another monitoring the parking lot, local labor union members said. The cameras were discovered after official campaigning for the upper house election began on June 22.

“We want the prefectural police to explain the purpose of their probe,” said Kenji Ishimoto, secretary general of the Oita labor union branch.

According to the union members, the cameras captured “images of an unspecified number of people entering and leaving the building,” a move they said constitutes a “violation of privacy.”

So far, police have said two male officers from their criminal affairs section installed the cameras on the night of June 18, but said the pair did not think the outdoor areas where they installed the cameras were privately owned.

The police acknowledged it was inappropriate to enter the premises without permission and install the cameras. They have apologized to those affected, but declined to say whether their surveillance activities were linked to the election.

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/complaint-filed-against-police-in-oita-over-hidden-cameras

"Embarrassing Photos of Me, Thanks to My Right-Wing Stalkers"

Photo (that accompanied the quoted text below)

 from International New York Times, 8/5/16

Following up on the last post about a severe breach of privacy and photo ethics I offer some passages from an op-ed by Bill McKibben in the International New York Times, 8/5/16 to further illustrate the power and abuse of power of photography.

There are shameful photos of me on the internet.

In one series, my groceries are being packed into plastic bags, as I’d forgotten to bring cloth ones. In other shots, I am getting in and out of … cars. There are video snippets of me giving talks, or standing on the street. Sometimes I see the cameraman, sometimes I don’t. The images are often posted to Twitter, reminders that I’m being watched.

In April, Politico and The Hill reported that America Rising Squared, an arm of the Republican opposition research group America Rising, had decided to go after me and Tom Steyer, another prominent environmentalist, with a campaign on a scale previously reserved for presidential candidates. Using what The Hill called “an unprecedented amount of effort and money,” the group, its executive director said, was seeking to demonstrate our “epic hypocrisy and extreme positions.”

Since then, my days in public have often involved cameramen walking backward and videotaping my every move. It’s mostly when I travel (I’ve encountered them in at least five states so far, as well as in Australia), and generally when I’m in a public or semipublic space. They aren’t interested in my arguments; instead, these videos, usually wordless, are simply posted on Twitter, almost always with music. One showed me sitting in a church pew, accompanied by the song “Show Me That Smile.” The tweet read, “Ready for his close-up.”
...

This effort has resulted in all kinds of odd things appearing on right-wing corners of the web: out-of-context quotations from old books and articles apparently put on display to prove I’m a zealot, and photos from God knows who intended to make me out as a hypocrite (the plastic bags, for instance, and my travel by car, which, you know, burns gas). Mostly, they’ve just published those creepy videos, to remind me that I’m under surveillance.
...

Merely having someone with a camera follow you somehow makes you feel as if you’re doing something wrong.

...

And yet, for all that logic, I still find myself on edge. To be watched so much is a kind of never-ending nightmare. And sometimes it’s just infuriating. I skipped the funeral this summer of Patrick Sorrento, an important mentor to me at my college newspaper, because I didn’t want my minder to follow me and cause a distracting spectacle. When my daughter reports someone taking pictures of her at the airport, it drives me nuts. I have no idea if it’s actually this outfit; common decency would suggest otherwise, but that seems an increasingly rare commodity.

...

A good thing about movements is that you really do have brothers and sisters, and they do have your back. The fossil-fuel industry may threaten us as a planet, as a nation, and as individuals, but when we rise up together we’ve got a fighting chance against the powers that be.

And perhaps that realization is just a little bit scary for them.

Read the entire op-ed: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/opinion/sunday/embarrassing-photos-of-me-thanks-to-my-right-wing-stalkers.html

"Singer Akina Nakamori wins damages suit over secret photograph"

From Japan Today, 7/28/16.

A secret photograph of singer Akina Nakamori taken during a break from show business aggravated her illness and may have delayed the resumption of her career, a court ruled Wednesday, ordering a publisher and a photographer to pay compensation to the veteran singer.

The Tokyo District Court awarded the 51-year-old Nakamori 5.5 million yen in compensation from Shogakukan Inc and the photographer for mental distress. The singer had sought 22 million yen.

In November 2013, the photographer captured an image of Nakamori inside her Tokyo apartment, using a telephoto lens from an apartment about 45 meters away. Shogakukan printed the image in the Josei Seven weekly magazine for women.

Nakamori, who was taking a break from her career due to illness, “suffered tremendous pain due to the illegal photograph,” Presiding Judge Yuko Mizuno said. As a result, the singer was obliged to move to a different location.

Nakamori, who debuted in 1982 with the single “Slow Motion,” resumed television appearances more than a year later at the end of 2014 when she sang in NHK’s “Kohaku” (red and white) annual song festival.

The male photographer had been convicted of violating the Minor Offenses Law by the Tokyo Summary Court, which found his act was a form of voyeurism.

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/singer-akina-nakamori-wins-damages-suit-over-secret-photograph

This is a case where someone's personal privacy was violated, a photo published without consent and a lawsuit being won by the victim under a Japanese law that is quite different than in other countries. Here's the gist of this Japanese defamation law.

In Japanese, then, defemation/meiyo kison is not about damage to mere reputation (hyoban)... it's about damage to honor (meiyo)... Reputation/hyoban is the view from the outside, how others see you... Honor/meiyo has several definitions... [I]t also includes... internal feelings that can be variously described as pride, personal integrity, dignity, or awareness of the worth of one's character. It's this concept of honor as both internal feelings and external reputation that illuminates the Japanese defamation law regime. (From Mark D. West. 2006 Secrets, Sex and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 3 "Privacy and Honor" p. 79)

For more on these issues in Japan, please review the Shooting Culture in Japan Project on VAOJ.

"Tachinomiya" - A Successful and Memorable Photo Exhibition/Event/Research Method

The exhibition/event "Tachinomiya" finished on a high note on Sunday after a two week run, proving to be an interesting and valuable research method. Thank you to all who came - Tenbun workers and patrons, university colleagues, students and former students, family, friends and new friends I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I received lots of good wishes and gifts as well as insightful comments and feedback. The Tenbun crowd examined the photographs intensely, pointed out new details and shared several suggestions for future research. Other visitors asked about theory, methods and techniques providing more inspiration. Thank you to Hoshigaoka Gakuen Head master and staff and Sewing Gallery staff for assistance and support.

There were many spontaneous happenings that added to the event including a visiting sketch artists who made drawing of people at the exhibition and a closing reception on Sunday. Extradiegetic elements added to the scene - the funky nature of the gallery itself, a music soundtrack comprised mostly of old American blues music inspired by drink (an a couple of new David Bowie songs from the Blackstar album) and six 1.8 liter bottles of sake donated by Tencho (they ran out by Sunday afternoon prompting visitors to go out and buy more...).

This exhibition was primarily for the benefit of the Tenbun crowd - as my thanks to them for their incredible cooperation and contributions. I found out during the exhibition that a regular Tenbun customer in a displayed portrait had recently passed away and that a woman appearing in a couple of photos was pregnant. This sadness and joy is a reminder that anthropology is about real lives and real people.

This exhibition in part started as a result of the "Shooting Culture in Japan" research dealing with photo methodologies, rules and etiquette; I was able to apply these things to create the beginnings of a visual ethnography of Tenbun, tachinomiya and Japan. This project will continue. Stay tuned to VAOJ for more news of future exhibitions, presentations and publications. For now, I need to catch up with work and sleep...

Photo Exhibition and Visual Ethnography - "Tachinomiya: There Are Two Sides to Every Noren"

日本語には、ここをクリックしてください

Thesis/Purpose: This photo exhibition is a visual ethnography of a traditional Japanese standing bar, or tachinomiya (literally “standing drinking shop”). Tachinomiya are numerous in Japan and are usually characterized as inexpensive and convenient spots for a quick drink and snack either alone or with friends. One charm of the tachinomiya, especially in the Osaka area, is socializing with the people next to you whether you know them or not. The specific tachinomiya presented in this exhibition, Tenbun, is a popular shop over 37 years old located near a busy train station on the boarder between Osaka and Kyoto prefectures. Tenbun features many kinds of food and drink and a plethora of interesting characters including the owner, employees and regular customers. Another characteristic of the tachinomiya is the use of a noren, a kind of fabric curtain that signals that the shop is open for business and provides partial seclusion for the shop and customers. The noren can be seen as a fluid wall; when calm it blocks much of the view from the outside, but when the wind blows its separated partitions offer more glimpses of the inside. The glimpses can be narrow or revealing. One cannot control the wind; this fluid wall illustrates the complexities of personal privacy in public spaces in Japan, especially in the context of taking photographs in public and image rights.

Key words: photo exhibition, visual ethnography, tachinomiya, noren, personal privacy

Wednesday, February 3 - Sunday, February 14, 2016
(closed on Monday and Tuesday)
12:00 - 18:00 (Closes at 17:00 on the final day)

Sewing Gallery
2-11-18 Hoshigaoka
Hirakata-shi, Osaka-fu, 573-0013
(inside Hoshigaoka Gakuen)
Tel: 072-840-2476　 Fax: 072-840-2492
E-Mail : info@sewing-g.com
URL: http://sewing-g.com/sg/2016/01/post-288.html

Take the Keihan Train Line to Hirakata-shi station and transfer to the Katano Line (platforms 5 & 6). Get off at Hoshigaoka station (2 stops from Hirakata-shi) and then walk up the hill for about 3 minutes. The gallery (inside Hoshigaoka Gakuen) is on the left hand side of the road.

Click here for access

写真展とビジュアル民族誌「立ち呑み屋: のれんの表裏には異なる意味があります」

Click here for English

目的: この写真展は伝統的な日本の「立ち呑み屋」を網羅したビジュアル民族誌である。立ち呑み屋というものは日本に多数存在し、通常安価で、一人であるいは友人と気軽にお酒と軽食を楽しめる場所とみなされている。 立ち呑み屋 の魅力（特に大阪で）は、隣の見ず知らずの人と親交を結べることである。この写真展で紹介されている 立ち呑み屋 「天文」は、大阪と京都の境 にある鉄道の駅の近くで37年以上営業を続けている人気店である。「天文」は多様な食事と飲み物が人気で、店の経営者、従業員、常連客などユニークな人々が集まることが大きな特徴となっている。また「 立ち呑み屋 」の特徴の一つに「のれん」というものがある。のれんというのは、布製のカーテンであり、それが使用されていることで店が営業中である合図となり、又、カーテンの中にいることで外から隔離されるようになる。のれんは「揺れる壁」として見られることもある。無風の時は外からの目を遮り、風で店の中の仕切りとなるのれんが揺れる時は、店の中の様子を覗くことができる。のれんの開き具合によって中が僅かに見える時もあれば、全体がはっきり見えることもある。誰も風をコントロールをすることはできない。この動く壁は日本の公共の場における個人のプライバシーの複雑さを示している。特に公共の場で写真を撮ることにおいて 顕著である。

キーワード: 写真展、ビジュアル民族誌、立ち呑み屋、のれん、個人のプライバシー

2016年2月3日 (水) 〜2月14日 (日)
12時〜18時 (月火休み 展示最終日は17時まで)

ソーイングギャラリー
〒573-0013 大阪府枚方市星丘2-11-18 星ヶ丘学園内
Tel: 072-840-2476　 Fax: 072-840-2492
E-Mail: info@sewing-g.com
URL: http://sewing-g.com/sg/2016/01/post-288.html

京阪電車枚方市駅で京阪交野線に乗換「星ヶ丘駅」下車駅前の坂を上がり、上がりきる手前の道を左へ。駅から徒歩3分。

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