The Bonds of parent and child
The portraits are of young people who are the third or fourth generation heirs of family business or traditions and their parents in Onagawa, Miyagi. The theme derives from questions on why they chose to inherit the business and why they chose to live there. The collection was shot in third winter since the disaster.
I am a third generation of a photo studio that my grandfather had started. However, I wasn’t able to inherit it because my parents passed away due to the tsunami.
Majority of the people lost their workplace or house from the tsunami. It is indeed a venture and there’s a huge risk involved in taking over the family business in a town where depopulation was taking place even before the disaster. Nevertheless, there are people who invested in new equipment worth ten millions of yen on loan and a father and son who strive to create employment in town, or a father and son who wishes to pass on the traditional lion dance to the grand son and protect from extinction. The younger generation are in their thirties and forties, and have children of their own. They are doing their best to leave the town to the next generation. From a parent to a child and from a child to a grandchild, the history of a family shapes the history of the town.
My wish to support those of my generation who inherit the family business and tradition is conveyed in the photographs. I also try to express and emphasize the bonding of parents and children through placing the two together in the same frame. Although some of the parents may have passed away but I can feel the existence of them standing beside the person.