Surprise! For those of you who ordered the second edition of YAKUZA, I present you with the new cover image. I hope you like it…

The inside of this second edition is the same as the sold out limited edition… but the last image, binding, chapter paper and cover are different. Read more about that here.

Exciting… In about ten days the second edition will be stitched and bound, the cover attached, and all the books will be individually shrinkwrapped, ready to be packed and shipped.

And so the distribution begins… I’m really really looking forward to it, and at the same time I’m a little scared of this first massive shipment of books I’m going to fulfill during the first week of November. Am I logistically even going to be able to handle it?

Fingers crossed.

Looking forward to the smell of books filling up my house again.

Have a great day today,

a

PS. Oh, and if you haven’t bought a book yet, now is really the time to do so… just click the green button here to your left… I need your support… I promise, you’ll not be disappointed!

I’ve literally received more than a thousand emails after the limited edition sold out, asking if there were plans for a second (general) edition of ODO YAKUZA TOKYO. At the time, I’ve always responded with neither “yes” or “no”, mainly because I needed a break in August to think things over… find new projects, do some research, get everything in order, rest my weary mind, take a little nap, etc…

And then came the press attention… attention and support which, without fault, has been super professional and incredibly heartwarming… GEO, GEO Epoche, The Sunday Times, El Pais, BBC, BBC Radio 4, BBC Mundo, Dagens Næringsliv, Blurb, The Japan Times, Chasseur D’Images, Rencontres d’Arles,… so many, and there’s still more to come (stay tuned!).

I’m genuinely happy and excited… And I realize all the above is giving me an opportunity to reach more people with a book than ever before, tell my story to a wider audience… participate.

So here’s the plan:
I literally just called the printer five minutes ago.
Said it felt like it was time for a second edition.

He agreed and started preparing rightaway. He guaranteed that all books will be ready to ship October 30th, 2011. Wow…. just perfect… What else could I wish for…

—

Since this is not the limited first edition, there will be significant changes in the book: no Japanese transparent paper between chapters, not numbered as part of an edition, a cover change, and a different binding. The image edit will be exactly the same as the first edition though, except for the very last image, which is unique to the limited edition… Yes, for the 500 lucky ones who have supported me in buying the limited edition two months ago, rest assured: your copy is now more valuable than ever… it is a unique object, never to reproduced. Your support has made everything possible in the first place…

The price of this second edition? Also exactly the same. I want the first edition buyers to know that they have something special, but that they did not have to pay a premium price for this. That “extra” in the first edition is my token of appreciation for the trust they gave me.

—

Back to the second edition: I want to offer a token of trust for people buying this second edition… to me, as an independent artist publishing work, it’s the thing that makes everything worthwile, that personal connection to you, buying the book…

So I’m offering the first 250 people who order a book
a signed copy, and I will add an original YAKUZA print as well.
(UPDATE: on september 12 2011, the first 250 orders were reached)

Again… thank you so much for the hundreds of supportive emails… and asking for a second edition. I heed your call.

And touch wood for me please…

And while you’re at it, buy your copy here below NOW :-)

      
If your country is not on the list, please drop me a note and I will accommodate.
If you buy more than 3 books, shipping is not automatically calculated.
I will then manually look for the best option and follow up with you personally.
Pickup is possible, but from Hasselt (Belgium) only.

ciao ciao,
anton

I never thought it would go this way. I expected to sell about half of what I printed, ever.

Instead, the book ODO YAKUZA TOKYO opened on BURN on June 17,  and now, 34 days later, the 500 copy limited edition is sold out… If you have any enquiries about this edition, just send me a direct email.

Today I’m wrapping the final book to ship. It does feel kind of sentimental.

Completely honored, and grateful to the chance I’ve been given, I now need a rest. Just a short one. One week.

I’ll be going on a little road trip with my lover, and after that, spend August at home, recharging, taking things easy, making my mind empty… and planting some seeds.

The Yakuza project is not in any way over of course, but just so you know: many more exciting things are going to be started soon…

Thank you all who bought the book, it has been a life-changing positive experience. I hope I will be granted many more of these.

Summertime…

thank you all, a

Finally…. it’s here! The book…. Over on BURN Magazine there’s a great interview by David Alan Harvey with me about the new book… and obviously you can buy it there. Please do so… it’s a beautiful object… and limited to only 500 numbered copies…

Below an excerpt from the introductory text:

In the hotel bar in Niigata, I’m only slowly starting to understand the extremely subtle social interaction that is continuously happening;
the micro-expressions on the faces, the gestures, the voices and intonations, the body language…

As the bar is being evacuated to make room for the godfather having a coffee, everything seems to be strictly organized but at the same
time seems to come naturally: strange, I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do, where to sit, when to talk or when to shut up. It’s like
I literally feel the boundaries, the implicit expectations, and I’m slowly learning when I can move forward, and when to best hold back.

Sitting at the table with a bodyguard looking straight through me, I drink my iced coffee. I’m feeling the acute sensation of walking on eggshells.

—

So yes, I feel a little like I took a step forward… printed and bound exactly like I envisioned it, a limited edition of 500 copies, soft cover, Japanese paper,… in my eyes, it has it all.

I sold 8 out of 10 copies at LOOK3 festival a few days ago, and was humbled by the amazing response. To watch someone looking through your book is something that completes the circle for me…

So go ahead, buy a copy, you will not be disappointed… and you will be supporting me to continue my work. Shipping starts on July 1st. My first task, tomorrow, is going to Japan with 10 books as a gift to the family bosses. Presented to them by me and my brother Malik with a little ceremony.

Fingers crossed.

Oh, and by the way…. today is my birthday…. some lucky coincidence.

[ NOTE: as of July 21 2011, this limited edition is sold out. You can direct any enquiries about this limited edition to me directly.
There is a second edition of this book available; for more information and to buy the second edition, look here. ]

cheers, a

I think it’s a really cool collaboration, and it adds an extra layer of authenticity to the book, especially as he has been deeply involved since the very beginning. Without him, we would have never made contact with the Yakuza in the first place. At his own personal risk, he always makes sure my brother Malik and I are safe at all times, and continuously advises us on the ever so important dos and don’ts when dealing with them. A bar owner and professional musician, he himself is not a member of any family.

a

check out the story here: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/showcase-76/

Check out the post on BURN Magazine…

What used to be a two-man operation has now grown to a lean mean mini-agency of 5 people, and a turnover we can all live comfortably from.

Ang’l provides me with the necessary  freedom so i can pursue my long term photographic projects, slowly making the transition to making a full living out of those. Because my approach to photography, specializing in long term conceptual documentary photography – yes that is a mouthful indeed – does not readily warrant a steady income right from scratch. You need to pave your own way a fair bit.

But who’s complaining? I have a healthy balance between family & friends, Ang’l web design, BURN magazine, and my own photography here, and the balance is slowly shifting to where i would like it to settle down. And i guess the slower the shift, the more gradual the movement, the more tried-and-tested it will be once i get there. Beats any sudden life-style changes in my book.

At Ang’l we work in a hyper-personal way with our clients. and hyper-flexible. and hyper-professional. Well, we have no choice of course, being the small lean web design agency and all, but we manage to handle a few large clients and a dozen smaller ones exceptionally well.

It’s hard keeping up with technology. Always is. But we try to use Moore’s law to our advantage and make our web experience count, and then rely on a mega cool network of über-high-tech freelancers to do all the fancy stuff that we dream up. Less profit, but a neat way of giving back to the community…

And it spills over of course. I am a photographer who can conceptualize, design and program web sites. Conceptualize, design and print books. Conceptualize, design and produce videos. Work professionally and courteously with any media company i deliver my images to. I believe, i hope that this extra knowledge will foolproof me for the future… the future which is now, which does require more from a photographer than just to be able to shoot exceptional images.

I know, i know… It is hard enough as it is to make exceptional images… only to realize that when you finally do so, people expect all that other stuff as well. It seems unfair. But i guess it’s the only way to make a difference… other than hoping that God or some other higher being will endow you with so much talent that you can forget all that other stuff.

Somehow i believe that the chance of the latter ever happening, is infinitesimally smaller than just working your #ss off and trying to make it happen for yourself.

Yamamoto Kaicho lies motionless, silently enduring the pain. Sensei Hori applies the tattoo manually, according to ancient traditions, and with his own prepared colors.

Although it is said to be less painful than a modern tattoo, the sheer size and complexity of the artwork is daunting. The skillset involved is immense: at precisely 120 stabs a minute with hand-made needles, and at an exact angle and depth, depending on the skin thickness in that particular area, the artist applies his design. Any mistake will show up immediately, and permanently, as an imperfection.

Early morning. A long row of cars stops in front of the hotel. When we enter the bar in the lobby, i notice that the place has been cleared completely. As a security measure. The bosses are having a meeting and a coffee. Other family members, sitting at surrounding tables at a different positions, form a physical barrier. I am the closest i can go, in front of a someone staring right at me. Souichirou tells me the man at my table has been in prison for the past 23 years, and recently released. He doesn’t tell me why, but i’m guessing that it wasn’t for shoplifting.

—

Anything below the heart is painful, Souichirou tells me, while we watch Yamamoto Kaicho’s tattoo being completed. Personally, recalling his own tattoo, the inside of the upper leg hurts the most, Souichirou says. Yamamoto Kaicho was once the proud owner of a full body suit tattoo, and had it removed several years later, only to have this new one made. Once complete, he will have spent about 100 hours, in sessions of 2 hours at a time, to get this tattoo.

—

In the hotel bar I am only slowly starting to understand the minutial social order that is continuously happening, the micro-expressions on the faces, the gestures, the voices and intonations, the body language. Everything seems to be strictly organized but at the same time seems to come naturally: strangely, I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do, where to sit, when to talk or when to shut up… it’s like I feel the boundaries, the implicit expectations, and I am slowly learning when I can do, and when to best hold back.

—

As much as they are allowing me to photograph, it as well seems to me that Soichiro is trying to teach me about the subtle Japanese cultural intricacies, and the relation of their family to society. It’s clear to me that they are most definitely not operationg completely “outside” of society. They are, so to speak, one leg in, one leg out. Why is this? How is this possible?

Slowly we go through every gallery, every image… Once in a while he flags one because he wants to ask a question or he wants me to make a print of it. To be presented to the subject on the photo… as a gift. This moment, the first showing of the images, the big first moment, “Are they going to like it? Will they approve?”, actually goes by without a glitch.

I also tell him i’m slowly starting to see the way i want to tell the story, so i show him my first sequenced spread layout on screen. only 20 images. I talk about my views, what i have seen, what i have learned, and that i am setting the mood in this “first chapter”. He agrees and thinks i should continue in the same way.

I’m in the front seat, riding with Soichiro in his car on his way to Shinjuku. “One cuts off one’s finger to make a point”, Soichiro explains while driving. “Usually to show the sincerity of an apology after doing something wrong.”

“You cut off a single digit of your own finger in a ceremonial way, while facing your boss, and then you present the severed finger on a folded napkin to him. It reinforces the power of your apology. It shows that you’re serious about what you’re saying.”

Somehow, i don’t feel like questioning that.

—

Post Scriptum:

A month ago, the annual go-around was banned by law; this is effectively the last picture of this happening in the streets of Kabukicho:

—

About the Work

Soichiro is the lead character of the story that i’m starting to tell, about a Yakuza family in Japan. After more than 10 months of preparation, my brother and I have been granted access to start a long-term project to document the visible and hidden life of that particular family. All names used in the account above (and previous and future accounts) are fictional.

Here and on burn magazine, i will regularly provide visual and textual accounts of our adventures.

We gather at his office, where he shows me the work of Watanabe Katsumi, a japanese street photographer of this particular district who, for about 40 years, barely making a living, sold his street photographs back to his subjects. Amazing stuff.

I’m surprised that somehow he must have taken the time to research this book and lend it to me to look in. We talk about photography, the schedule that lies ahead of us, and the places he and his family are going to take us to. I am impressed what is in store for us. And excited.

—

Some of the other family members arrive at the office. Everyone is waiting outside, time to go.

—

I’m definitely aware of the weird mix of feelings while walking the streets at night with them, in ‘their’ borough. A mix of respect, fear, clueless-ness, anger and admiration from the people, the hustlers, the shopkeepers, the prostitutes, the restaurants, the tourists, the club owners,…

It’s my first night out shooting. We’re on a so-called “go-around”, where the whole family gathers in fine suits to walk the streets collectively, greeting everyone, being greeted by everyone, in effect unmistakably showing everyone that they are, simply, ‘there’.

The message is crystal clear.

—

Two regular japanese guys walk up to me, smiling and gesturing friendly, apparently wanting to see my pictures.

I see Souichirou in the corner of my eye taking an immediate distance and signaling me, that this is in fact undercover police… The family disperses, like nothing ever happened… Just in time I have the presence of mind to start playing dumb and speak in a way too loud voice “tourist, tourist, picture”…. and I take off in another direction.

They don’t follow me. Close call.

And thus ends the first shoot.

Anton, april 2009

—

About the Work

Souichirou is the lead character of the story that i’m starting to tell, about a Yakuza family in Japan. After more than 10 months of preparation, my brother and I have been granted access to start a long-term project to document the visible and hidden life of that particular family. All names used in the account above (and previous and future accounts) are fictional.

Here and on burn magazine, i will regularly provide visual and textual accounts of our adventures.

I hope to be able to publish a book on this story.

We both committed to BURN in NYC in December 2008 (after a large gathering of great friends & fellows where the BURN idea actually crystallized – read this), shook hands, and simply went for it. I know we launched on an impossible moment right before or after Christmas – I can’t remember which day exactly – but right now, either one of those days sounds like impeccably bad timing from our part :-)

And throughout the first month we called each other daily… setting up essays, finding new talent, going through submissions, helping photographers deliver their essays and singles, taking care of the tech side, setting up an essay system, spinning ideas…

These days we still call each other daily. Make the editor’s decisions together. Discuss BURN’s future and how we should handle it. Half of the time I’m hopping between Brussels and Japan, and David’s flying from Mexico to Spain to NYC… The time zone differences are massive. We work together from different continents but we do it really well, only needing “half a word” to understand and act. This is our strength…

Of course there are people helping out right now, to whom we are massively indebted… Michael Courvoisier, Bob Black, Kerry Payne, Chris Bradley, and many others that are going to kill me for forgetting them, are all doing extremely valuable work… And of course not to forget the past work of the whole team at the infamous BURN initial meetup at the Kibbutz in NYC……. thanks a million…

David’s DAH man, but BURN is the both of us together… together making the editorial decisions, guiding the photographers to submit their work, doing the online and offline mentoring, Work-in-Progress and workshops, preparing the carefully targeted marketing of BURN, pitching the BURN story and our ideas to the right people – or at least, what we think are the right people… Looking for funding, hiring staff, freelancers and searching for talent, literally putting young photographers out there to create content for BURN, doing the same with iconic photographers, and pushing forward with the incredible stuff we still have in store…

Keep an eye on BURN… it’s massive. It’s there.

[button style="green" title="burn magazine" href="http://www.burnmagazine.org" target="_blank"]www.burnmagazine.org[/button]

He has agreed to us getting to know each other. Through the barriers of different languages and cultures, we will be approaching each other with the broadest possible open mind. To learn, to tell our stories. To gain trust and to share views.

—

Soichiro and his family control Kabukicho, in the heart of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Not much happens in the streets without his approval.

—

After more than 10 months of preparation and ground work by my brother and our dear friend Taka-san, finally, for the first time, we all meet over dinner. At first, Souichirou lays down the rules. Tells us what we want to achieve is near impossible. He says that the things we want to document, no outsider has ever been allowed to bear witness to. We eat, drink, smoke, and exchange gifts.

—

He invites us to his office. we talk some more. I show previous work. He tells me I photograph with a Japanese eye. He laughs when we ask if it’s true that all family members have tattoos, and if it’s painful to get one.

Then he shows his.

Each tattoo is so personal, he says, full of meaning to the bearer and his family. Only Sensei Horikyo tattoos for his family.

—

No rush. He understands and wants us to take time to get to know his family, time to develop our view. He believes in our way of working, and is confident we will bring this to a good end. He thinks in years, not days or weeks or months.

He does a lot of legwork in his family. Even though he his a boss, he still speaks to his bosses who in turn speak with their bosses. Within two days, we are invited to witness a closed meeting. Four members apologizing to the family for being in jail. My brother and I are nervous as hell going in.

No pictures allowed yet, but now we know. Souichirou walked the walk and committed. Our project has begun for the next couple of years. My brother and I… and Souichirou. Becoming friends, telling the story… I hope everything will work out.

—

Anton Kusters, january 2009

(over the next few months, i will actively be seeking funding, to be able to complete this long-term project)

Braakland ZheBilding…

ten young actors in a play about
their fears
their hopes
their secrets
their shames
their inability
to do anything about it….

- set in an abandoned hospital wing -

“I’ve got so much to do, so much to achieve, how can i ever have the time to do it all…”