The Japanese Youth
Sometimes, I wonder what my life would have been like if I had grown up in Japan rather than Germany. After decades of consuming anime, manga, and video games, this question doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Would I still celebrate Japan and its culture with the same enthusiasm if I hadn’t been born in Germany but instead on the other side of the world? Would I even find myself drawn to German pop culture the way I am to Japanese pop culture now? Would I secretly listen to Helene Fischer, convinced that her music is some sort of guilty pleasure? Or would my interests have taken an entirely different turn, shaped by an upbringing immersed in Japanese society?
Miri Matsufuji is a photographer from Tokyo, someone I once had the chance to meet in person. It happened on the third floor of Tower Records in Shibuya, a place I had wandered into on a whim. She was there with an American friend, showcasing her latest self-published photo booklet at a stand set up specifically for independent photographers. I remember thinking how effortlessly cool she looked, as if she had stepped right out of one of her own photographs. It’s not uncommon for Japanese creatives to be seen in public alongside Western-looking people, whether as a fashion statement, a sign of international connections, or simply as part of a cosmopolitan lifestyle.
Miri is living the kind of reality I used to imagine for myself. Whether that reality is as great as it appears in my mind is, of course, debatable. After all, no life is as glamorous as it seems through the lens of a camera. But in her photos, Japanese youth always looks vibrant and full of life, as if every day were a scene from a coming-of-age film. Miri’s work reflects reality while stripping it of its heaviness, making everyday life appear both colorful and cinematic, almost like a dream that still feels tangible. And that’s exactly what I love about her photography - it’s real, yet it never takes itself too seriously, balancing truth and beauty in a way that makes the ordinary feel extraordinary.