Tokyo 2020 is a series of candid monochromes shot by American photographer Robert Gerhardt during his visit to the capital of Japan last month. Gerhardt arrived in the city on February 7, shortly after the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise was parked at Yokohama’s port. Her 3,700 passengers and crew members were put under quarantine.
“At the time, no one in Tokyo seemed over-anxious about the disease, and things in the city were rolling along during the last week the city would be normal before an exploding of coronavirus cases,” Gerhardt told HKFP.
During his 10-day trip, Gerhardt said he strolled around the capital without having any “real agenda,” but slowly he became drawn to the city as it came to life after dark.
“As dusk settled, and people headed home from work, and the neon and street lights came on, the city seemed to come even more alive,” he said.
“Nothing was still. People rushed by, heading for the last trains home, or the bars with their friends, or to some other destination somewhere out there in the vast city. And below it all, the subway rolled on carrying the crowds,” Gerhardt recalled.
“So I went where my feet led me. I picked a spot on the map of the city, went there, and then wandered back to my hotel, no matter how far,” he said.
“I wasn’t looking for anything other than what the city would show me. Well, that and a good bowl of ramen,” he said.
Robert Gerhardt is a photographer whose work has featured been in numerous solo and group exhibitions in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as in collections including The Museum of the City of New York, The New York Historical Society, and the Arab American National Museum. His work has also been published in The Guardian, The Diplomat, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, The Hong Kong Free Press, Haaretz, and Suddeutsche Zeitung. His work can be viewed on his website.
