Cherry Blossom

Bruce Gilden first set foot in Japan in 1995. On this trip, the first in a series, he explored the hidden side of a country that had long fascinated him. From Tokyo to Osaka, he discovered a Japan little known to Westerners and captured it in his inimitable photographic style.

In Bruce Gilden: Cherry Blossom, Gilden tells the story of these travels and his connection to Japan in a rare introductory text. Each photograph depicts an intimate and powerful encounter. There are no cherry blossoms or geishas on these pages; Gilden’s camera points to the darker sides of Japanese life – the gangsters, the dispossessed and the homeless. As always, the Magnum photographer’s work is stark and unflinching, and his portrait of Japanese society unconventional and fascinating.

The stories told alongside these photographs – thirty-four of which are published here for the first time – create a book that is hard to forget.