Provincial Life in Japan Captured by Guido Castagnoli

While Italian photographer Guido Castagnoli was dazzled by the bright lights of Tokyo, he nonetheless preferred to take a step back from the frenzy of the Japanese capital in order to engage with the provinces, notably the prefecture of Shizuoka.

In this series of images, we find cities almost entirely empty of their inhabitants, where businesses and shopfronts are run down, with only a glimmer of their former fancy glory. It is a facet of life that is far less documented than the bright lights of Tokyo. Peaceful, almost monotonous, at a first glance these sweet photographs could be mistaken to depict American ghost towns. This quiet yet original photographic essay allows us to discover a different side of Japan.