For this photographic series, TÔRU went through all his old negatives of Japan to discover forgotten images that had never been printed or published, looking for his past and his memories.

“There are too many memories. How wonderful it would be if all good memories stayed on my mind forever, and all bad memories vanished from my head. But unfortunately it seems that human beings are programmed to drop good memories also in their long journey. Our pockets are saturated with memories.

 

There are too many images. How wonderful it would be if all precious images stayed on my mind forever, and all horrible images vanished from my head. But unfortunately it seems that we are forced to leave these precious images also somewhere in our long journey. Our suitcases are saturated with images.

 

Memories are always uncertain. Our world transforms little by little. Our perspective changes day by day. Our memories and images get blurrier and blurrier. Where were we? Who were we? What did we see? How did we feel? I look back to the path where I was walking. There is fog in those mountains. I wipe my glasses with my shirt to see it clearly. It might not be a bad idea to head back the way I came in order to see where I was, who I was, what I saw, and how I felt.”

—- TÔRU