When the Town Lights Stir My Heart: WONDERLAND 1970s Mitsugu Ohnishi

This photobook is a collection of early monochrome snapshots taken by photographer Mitsugu Ohnishi during his twenties. Born and raised in Fukagawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Ohnishi has spent decades—from the 1970s to the present—documenting the downtown (shitamachi) and waterfront areas of Tokyo. As a local resident himself, his lens has captured the daily lives of the people and the landscapes transforming under urban redevelopment over many years.

This volume features 62 early works that mark the starting point of his career. In addition to a text by Ohnishi himself, the book includes a contribution by the renowned critic Saburo Kawamoto, who is known for his deep and insightful gaze into photography, film, urban culture, and the lives of common people.

Even amidst the turbulent era of the "1970 Anpo Protests" and the "Oil Shock," these photographs reveal the warmth and mutual care that resided in Tokyo’s shitamachi at the time. One can clearly sense the seeds of the unique perspective that has defined Ohnishi’s photography in the years that followed.