Photographing the renovation of Shibuya station in Tokyo
The photo series Reconstruction by Satoshi Hirano was named one of the eight winners of the Steidl Book Award Japan, an annual prize that has been awarded since 2016. Satoshi's series deals with the renovation of the Shibuya train station in Tokyo and combines captured images day and night under a distinctive black and white aesthetic.
Located in the heart of Tokyo's popular Shibuya district, a thriving business, shopping, and nightlife district in the west of the city, the station is home to Shibuya Crossing – one of the busiest (and most famous) crossings in the world.
All images © Satoshi Hirano
Despite their lively reputation, the photographs feel dark and intense and offer a glimpse into the industrial underbelly buried beneath many of our cities.
Satoshi reinforces the immensity of the operation with his high-contrast images of dense mechanical and technical structures, which stand alongside images of people filtering through the station and the surroundings. The aesthetic develops in the last section of the book, in which the photographs lie somewhere between daguerreotypes and space mission images.
The pictures were taken between 2014 and 2018. During this time, the train lines continued. The renovation was carried out in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and are now set to take place in 2021.
Satoshi Hirano previously presented the series at the Nikon Salon in Tokyo and Osaka. It was recently published in a photo book along with the seven other winners of this year's award as part of Steidl's Japan 8 book series.
The reconstruction of Satoshi Hirano is published by Steidl. steidl.de