Photographer reminds Japanese of their 'forgotten' hometowns
| Onomichi, Japan
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
When photographer Noriko Naka-moto was recovering from a personal crisis, she stumbled upon Onomichi, a seaside city in western Japan that has changed little since the 1960s. She decided to live there and take photos of what she calls 鈥渇orgotten Japan.鈥�
Ms. Nakamoto has documented many aspects of locals鈥� daily lives, including old temples, fish peddlers, eating places, and dilapidated dwellings. While her work is of modest subjects 鈥� no celebrities or big corporations 鈥� her experience in Onomichi has enabled her to better appreciate life itself, she says. She now teaches photography to more than 100 locals.
As Japan鈥檚 decades-long economic slump hit outlying regions especially hard, more people abandoned their hometown to seek a job in an urban center.
鈥淢any people have forgotten what their hometown had given them,鈥� she says.
