Gravitating toward nocturnal spaces and marginalized communities, Kitajima uses the night as both subject and metaphor for identity, desire and transformation
Pbk, 11.75 x 14.25 in. / 248 pgs / 214 bw. | 6/30/2026 | Awaiting stock $90.00
Published by Little Big Man Books. Edited by Keizo Kitajima, Nicholas Haymes, Lina Kutsovskaya.
Japanese photographer Keizo Kitajima's (born 1954) two series, Photographs of Okinawa (1975–79) and Tokyo 1979, share a deep continuity in spirit and approach, revealing the foundations of his raw, immersive photographic language. Both series emerge from Kitajima's direct participation in the worlds he depicts—whether amid the humid streets and bars of post-reversion Okinawa or the restless nightlife of Tokyo's underground. Shot in stark black and white with harsh flash, the images expose moments of vulnerability and intensity within Japan's shifting social landscape. Although each series was originally self-published separately, Kitajima later announced that their intentions and conclusions are the same. This publication collides the two series together in oversize format, with images as raw and fresh as when first photographed some 50 years ago.
Photo Express: Tokyo is a facsimile of the legendary series of 12 booklets published by Keizo Kitajima on the occasion of his exhibition Photo Express: Tokyo at CAMP gallery in Tokyo in 1979. The booklets were numbered from one to twelve and one was released each month for a year. Each contained 16 pages of photographs from Kitajima's legendary nocturnal wanderings in Tokyo and conveys the spirit of the happenings he organized at the time. Kitajima's original booklets have now become cult objects, and this new edition is likewise set to become a collector's item.
Keizo Kitajima: Photo Express Tokyo