Well, any old crap, quite literally, can sell as art.
Aside from that, what do you mean by staged? Even now, these scenes can be observed if you are inclined to go through the trouble. Exhibitionists find voyeurs, and everybody’s happy.

And, while I don’t side with the NYT on much, your Japanese friend is being silly if he believes he is a superior authority on English usage to the Times editors (all native speakers I presume). The Japanese person who believes he knows English better than educated native speakers is a bane on our existence. And they always seem to have sooo much free time.

Here is more of the backstory: “Back in the seventies, a photographer crept around Tokyo’s parks, watching as people (straight and gay) went at it, observed by fervent Peeping Toms. He showed his grainy, life-size images in Tokyo’s Komai Gallery in 1979, alongside blurry stills lifted from sex tapes left behind by patrons of a pay-by-the-hour hotel. The show was an underground success, but paranoia set in. Yoshiyuki (a pseudonym—his real name is still unknown) apparently destroyed many of the images and set up shop as a family photographer in the Sears Portrait Studio vein. Interest in his work reemerged with the 2006 publication of Martin Parr’s The Photobook: A History—Volume 2, where he was mentioned as a little-known innovator. The Yossi Milo Gallery tracked down the reclusive artist, and he agreed to reprint photographs from the remaining negatives for the first showing of his work in nearly 30 years.”

Anybody know his real name?

Well, that’s the old argument that goes “It’s never happened to me, therefore it doesn’t exist.”

That book was a fake???

Maybe the picks are set-ups. Maybe not. Either way, it’s not gonna change my vote in the next presidential election.

It is true that the Western press eats up anything weird from Japan, hook, line, sinker, and then more line.

This kind of stuff happens all over the place (hello? Gay cruising areas in parks, anyone?).

In Paris, in a discrete corner of the Bois du Boulogne, there’s a section where couples drive, park and get down to sex *knowing* that there are people who are watching through the car windows, knowing that some of these voyeurs will invariably come up to the car and practically paste their noses (and… um… other appendages) to the windows to watch and some who are even invited in to join.

I’ve talked to people who have been the, ah, ’sexees’ (?) and the voyeurs.

If the French can do it, I don’t see why the Japanese can’t, either. And if there’s sex involved, invariably someone has a camera, it seems. Leave it to one ever-innovative Japanese photographer to come up with this method, though.

A far more interesting article in the Times was about two photos taken about an hour and a half apart during the Crimean War; one photo with cannon balls scattered a cross the road and the other without. Susan Sontag had used the photos to illustrate a point that the photographer ‘faked’ the photo by putting the cannon balls from the side gulleys onto the road for a dramatic effect. But the article writer questioned that cynical theory and the readers of the article submitted some more theories - some of which were common sense-smart. Interesting stuff that I can’t find a link for anymore

I think Betty Woo hit the nail on the head: what’s staged is the couples’ knowledge of the voyeurs. The voyeurs are less predators than invitees. It’s a better sell if the couples are innocent and not involved, but with all of the inexpensive love hotels around Tokyo, there’s no reason a couple without a house wanting to get it on should have to do it in public… unless they wanted to.

Thanks, RYO. That was an interesting read about the cannonballs and I can honestly say I wouldn’t have thought twice about Sontag’s repeated claim if the article author didn’t bring up some interesting points.

Then lunch hour was over and back to work I went and I couldn’t find the link on the NYTimes page this morning.

Nicodraxus,
Good post and thanks for info. You wrote: “Japanese names in New York Times style are written the same as Western names: Given name first, then family name.”

So then can you answer this question: if the artist’s name was give in the Times as Kohei Yoshiyuki (it’s a pen name, don’t forget, the man’s name is not really first name Kohei, family name Yoshiyuki) — and in fact, I think in Japanese his name would be Yoshiyuki Kohei, as in Yoshiyuki-san or Yoshiyuki-kun, since Kohei means UNDERCLASSMAN, opposite of SENPAI, so if his name is KY or YK, in the second reference in the NYTimes style, how should his name be printed with the MR. used as in Times style? Mr Yoshiyuki or Mr Kohei? Can you consult the NYT style book and answer later? Thanks. Just curious.

A blogger in North America, who is also following the yarase-ness of these photos writes:

“Honestly I’m glad someone finally said something about the pictures being set up. I really don’t think too many people were suckered into thinking that was real, but it was a fun slide show anyway.”

Another blogger wrote:

“It was extremely obvious that something was wrong with those pictures. There is no way a group of guys would be able to crouch up that close on a couple having an intimate moment unless it was staged. I was kind of stumped as to why a couple of other blogs had not even noticed or mentioned it after this started going around the net. The fact that it raises questions is what makes it so great.”

Another comment, even better:

“A smart estimation of this matter should include the sourcing of any and all claims pertaining to the authenticity of these photos. First, we have an artist of very high reputation, whose work has been accepted by the finest art galleries worldwide, whose experts have determined the veracity of the work at hand. Second, the bloggers that you so quickly accuse of being so naive have linked to none other than the New York Times. While the NYTimes may have had a very few problems with accuracy in reporting from a very few rogue reporters, their reputation on artistic matters is nothing short of sterling. Lastly, to make any claim regarding the stagecraft of these photos is to miss the point of the work itself. What matters is that the voyeuristic spirit of Japan and of photography itself was captured brilliantly in this series. All of these points are made in order to combat the overly skeptical and moody portrayals in the commentary made above. Simply put: would you please, for the love of God, just enjoy some good art, enjoy the story, and stop being such cynical killjoys.”

Hullo Dan,

Right. That’ll teach me for skimming. By the time I got around to writing my comment, I had forgotten the fact that he was using a pen name. And that would change things a bit. But something doesn’t smell right here…

I don’t know where your information is coming from but the Japanese for “underclassman” is “kouhai (後輩)” not “kouhei”. Kouhei(耕平) is a perfectly normal first name. I thought maybe the Times had simply spelled it incorrectly, so I ran the kanji past my co-workers just to check, and they said it is the usual kanji for the usual first name. So if it is a pen name, there is nothing unusual about it.

But I’ll answer your question in either case. Much of how the Times and even AP deal with nicknames or pen names is to call people whatever it is they want to be called, unless it will actually cause confusion as to the person’s identity.

If the name is an unusual one, where there is only one name (Madonna) or the first and last name are required in order to form some kind of word, such as Rip Torn or Meat Loaf, no Mr./Ms., etc. is used, and the name is always written in full. (Although, I love the idea of using it: “Mr. Loaf played to a sold-out stadium…” That’s hilarious! Do his good friends call him “Meat”?)

So if his name were “Yoshiyuki Kouhai,” as in “Underclassman Yoshiyuki,” then it would still be incorrect to use “Mr. Yoshiyuki Kouhai” but would also be incorrect to use “Mr. Yoshiyuki.” The article should simply use the full name each time. Although, I think the Times staff could certainly be excused for not being in on the joke!

However, since (as far as I or anyone at my office can see) the pen name resembles a normal name in every way, then the name can be treated as a normal name, like Mark Twain. It is perfectly acceptable to call him Mr. Twain.

Hope that makes sense.

This is why I love Japundit - I’m learning not only how the venerable New York Times deals with Japanese proper names but also where to cop feelies (or at least be a coppee) and find nature-loving oblivious (or aspirational?) ‘lewd nudes’, as it were.

Oh. And there used to be a street behind one of the big Paris department stores where very well-dressed women would sit in the passenger seats of luxury cars and patiently wait.

A gentleman would come up to the open window, negotiate terms and a huge perk (which the john inevitably paid extra for) was to be given the keys to the car so he could drive it and the babe to a hotel to finish the contract. Boy, the things I used to have to do research for… .

Well, roshutsu play anyway.
Nan-net.com is one source of link-ups if you are into this. They also have the hidden pantie games, where girls hide their panties in public places to be found by the lucky perv. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt.

We had a thread about this (couple having sex in very public places) about a year back. During that very thread, I was driving into Kumamoto on the highway one morning about 8am, and spied a couple doing just that on the highway overpass before the exit. Her hands seem to have been tied, but as I was driving way too fast, I can’t be sure. The timing was so remarkably coincidental, I didn’t mention it here. People would have thought I was making it up to prove that these things really happened. Now it’s safe to tell you.

This is getting interesting. Now a blogger of the arts in NYC tells me, via email:

”Danny, I wasn’t sure about all of your attempts to get his name established and complaining about the NY times. The book, aside from whether you think the work is a hoax or not, is credited to Kohei Yoshiyuki. Whether that is a bad translation of his name or improper order of the two names would be difficult to argue since the artist himself would have approved the book before it went to press.

I think your observations on the validity of these images is a fascinating study of how each of us has individual perceptions of the same material. I like and respect that you believe that they were set up. The thought of that adds another dimention to the work that I would find even more compelling if it were true.

I tend to think they weren’t set up though. But whether or not they are, the work still has a power of commenting on voyeurism (both by photographer and “peeper”) and codes of conduct in public spaces.

I find the touching aspect by the “peepers” to be disturbing and almost unbelievable but then again, human sexuality as we know is so complicated that perhaps some of the couples could possibly been into that aspect as an additional turn on. Since we know that people can be into all sorts of scatalogical practice for sexual gratification, then this sort of added participation by onlookers would not be such an obvious example for someone to state that: “It was extremely obvious that something was wrong with those pictures. There is no way a group of guys would be able to crouch up that close on a couple having an intimate moment unless it was staged. I was kind of stumped as to why a couple of other blogs had not even noticed or mentioned it after this started going around the net.”

Keep commenting.”

So, are they yarase or not? What’s your vote? I say yarase but I may very well be wrong. What do you think?

Ryo, you can have sex with your clothes on (just ask anyone who barely remembers being a drunk university student at a street party or gleefully glaring at embarrassed colleagues at a post-Christmas party coffee break at the office). You just need enough ’strategic unhindered space’. Or not.

And what do you define as action that ‘got really hot’ that becomes the tipping point for a peeping tom to make that conscious decision to come closer? OK. This is rhetorical now, no need to answer

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