Photo series peeping toms in Japan, circa 1970

Picture 6-29


From OKfuture.net: "Here is a fascinating story about a series of photos taken of Peeping Toms in Japan in the 70's. These furtive voyeurs were sneaking around parks late at night in search of romantic encounters. The photos were taken by photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki while he was taking a walk with a friend through a park late at night. He noticed a couple on the ground, with a small but growing ring of men crawling towards them."

"I had my camera, but it was dark," he told the photographer Nobuyoshi Araki in a 1979 interview for a Japanese publication. Researching the technology in the era before infrared flash units, he found that Kodak made infrared flashbulbs. Mr. Yoshiyuki returned to the park, and to two others in Tokyo, through the '70s. He photographed heterosexual and homosexual couples engaged in sexual activity and the peeping toms who stalked them.

Link | NY Times audio slideshow here