Ayu Watanabe – Taijin Kyofusho in Underground Tokyo

Taijin Kyofusho is a Japanese culture-specific syndrome. It is a feeling of intense anxiety centered around the dread of hurting or offending others. This is a social anxiety disorder of avoiding social contact based on fear and shame. I found this phenomenon in Tokyo Metro. During the shoot, no one cares about us even the model has a big flower and strikes a pose in front of the camera. The train is full of people, very crowded, everyone is so close each other but they all are looking at their smart phones and no one says hi or smiles each other. Underground Tokyo is very depressing and dark, so I put fantasy into it with my beautiful friend Noa.

Since we are following Ayu Watanabe‘s gallery on Instagram we are very impressed by her analogue, photographic works. Each photo has a profound mood and appears wonderfully authentic. Her series she submitted is a beautiful contrast – grey, cold-looking tunnels of underground stations and a dreaminess of model Noa and the captured atmosphere.