GINZA HACCHO / EVERY BUILDING ON THE GINZA STRIP Michalis Pichler

*This book is secondhand.

This photobook by Germany-based photographer Michalis Pichler is a work that combines art historical referencing with contemporary urban critique.

Its conceptual origin lies in the Japanese painter Shohachi Kimura's 1954 supplement, Album Ginza Haccho, which was a groundbreaking publication that utilized an accordion fold to present a continuous panorama of every storefront façade on Ginza Street. Twelve years later, Ed Ruscha published EVERY BUILDING ON THE SUNSET STRIP in a near-identical style, which became a touchstone for conceptual publications, though its Japanese precursor remains little known.

Pichler's book is an homage to Kimura's work (and by extension, Ruscha's), using the exact same methodology to photograph the entirety of contemporary Tokyo's Ginza Street. The result is an approximately 14-foot (4.3-meter) long photo strip that captures "Ginza as it is now," where glamorous luxury global fashion brands are tightly interspersed with long-established local businesses, reflecting the accumulation of time.

Shot from a moving car, the book leaves the seams of the individual photographs visible. Through his unique methodology—which he calls "Art History Karaoke" (a technique of appropriation and paraphrase)—Pichler’s work addresses urban phenomenology and social critique, serving as a highly significant volume that questions the modern urban landscape.