Plus ça Change―
A Decade of Documentation

Nicolas Datiche and Xavier Andujar are French photographers. The former has been living in Tokyo since 2013 and the latter has been living in Nishinomiya in Hyogo and mainly working in Osaka since 2014. The two French photographers living in two megalopolises in Japan met in Kyoto and co-found the collective called Koga Photos in 2022.

Nicolas and Xavier are the epitome of many people who were amazed by Japan initially and decided to stay here for an extended time. They were invited to dialogue about their life and work through their photographs and this conversation explores the stories of themーHow they live with photography in these two famous Japanese cities and why they are still taking photos of the two cities after so many years.

Nicolas:
Tokyo is the biggest city in the world, it is the perfect image of the “Megalopolis”. There is a living spirit in Tokyo that fascinates me. The Japanese capital is constantly changing. There is something organic about this city. Photographing this place is like documenting a living person through its evolution, its changes. For me, Tokyo is one of the cities that we can describe as “the most recognized city even if you have never been there” like New York or Paris, through photography, and history; but also movies, culture and tv shows. So even if you have never had the chance to travel here, you know “Shibuya crossing” or the night view of the Tokyo Bay Skyline.

Xavier:
For me, to photograph Osaka is to photograph a city that have a special place in my heart, Osaka is one of the oldest cities in Japan, and it has an extremely strong identity that it has developed through all its history, whether it is in the structure of the city, the language used by its inhabitants or even the food, what we live and what we see here is quite unique in the country.

After spending several years photographing and observing the city, there are two things that push me to continue to document it:

The first one is the people. I think that the Osakajins (Osaka citizens) have a very strong and funny personality, and the second one is the evolution of the city through time. The city I got to know when I arrived was not the same as it is today, its something that fascinates me. I’ve seen some districts change completely, modernize, become aseptic as modern Japan knows so all too well, others on the contrary are aging, but I know it’s only a question of time for them to change, and then with the COVID pandemic, I saw places that were once a dynamic heart of the city completely vanish and lose their joy, and all this for a photographer who wants to work on the long-term is something very strong to follow.

Nicolas:
The surprise of the first years in Tokyo where everything is “new”, “strange” and “incredible” but also a little “cliché” has given way to more documentary work in my approach to this entity. What hasn’t changed though is the love of light here. The late afternoon light with the complex reflections on the skyscrapers continues to fascinate me.

Xavier:
When I arrived, everything was new, I didn’t know anything about the country and I photographed mostly what was obvious to me, what was new to me and what touched me, so a lot of pictures of signs filled with kanji, lights at night in busy areas, people, temples, all that pleased my eyes.
And then I learned, I got used to it, I understood a little better what surrounds me. What was a surprise yesterday becomes something normal and I think that little by little my photography has evolved. I photograph not so much what I see in the street in favor of what happens there, what people do there and how the country evolves, and what touches me deep inside.

Nicolas:
I think the most important thing is to be curious about the environment. Not to intellectualize photography too much, and to let yourself be carried away by the patterns, the moments and to look for the light. You also have to like walking. Tokyo is a huge city that you have to discover on foot. Embrace the city to let yourself get lost quietly. It may seem a bit trivial, but to have a camera and a lens that you master and a very good pair of shoes is what you truly need.

SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, FUJIFILM X-T3,
ISO 800, F4, 1/125s | Xavier Andujar

SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, FUJIFILM X-T3,
ISO 400, F2.8, 1/125s | Xavier Andujar

Nicolas:
For me, there are two important technologies, the sensors with increasingly clean low lights in high ISO but also lenses whose optical formulas are more and more qualitative often associated with increasingly fast AF technologies.

Xavier:
I think that the main change that had an impact on me is the ability of sensors to shoot at night without noise, there is also the arrival of mirrorless cameras which has allowed having compact zoom lenses such as the SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary in X Mount platforms. It’s quite light and of a professional quality that can shoot at maximum aperture with a good sharpness through the entire zoom range.

Nicolas:
As I said above, the city is huge so having a lens that caters to all the photos you’d like to take is a plus. There’s nothing worse than getting lost in lens hesitations while rummaging through your camera bag. The SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary is light, and the images are super detailed. With this little lens attached to a body, all you need is a battery or two in your pocket and a good pair of shoes to spend any day exploring Tokyo.

Xavier:
For me the main interest of this lens is that you can do everything with it, I mean SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN｜Contemporary, it’s super versatile, you can do landscape as well as portrait and street photography, it’s really small, lightweight, and opens at F2.8 which is perfect for long days of walking from dawn to dusk. To be honest I’ve never been a big fan of zooms mainly because of their size, weight and optical performance, but this lens could be my main lens when traveling.

Nicolas:
I really like the Canadian photographer Greg Girard who photographed Tokyo and Japan (in the 70s and 80s among others) and also Asia. For his images have become strong testimonies of a past era of Tokyo, and makes me think about the documentary value of the photos that we can take today, tomorrow… And for someone who has been in Tokyo for 10 years, this reflection concerns the deconstruction of the feeling of banality; whereas later these “banal photos” will have an even more documentary value in a city in perpetual change. Xavier, do you have one photographer you recently discovered and would like to introduce?

Xavier:
The artist I would like to recommend is called Okada Kisara. Her work in the streets of Tokyo does not lack humor, I really like the scenes she takes!

Nicolas:
The lack of inspiration is a kind of trivialization of the place, but as I said before you have to stay curious, not to think too much, and especially to say to yourself that you are very fortunate to have a photographic playground like Tokyo to express yourself.

Xavier:
In general I don’t have a favorite time to take pictures but if I had to choose the best time to photograph Osaka it would be at night, that’s when all the energy of the city is revealed.

SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, FUJIFILM X-T3,
ISO 1600, F2.8, 1/30s | Xavier Andujar

Nicolas:
I like the light at the end of the day, specially through large skyscrapers’ windows. And inside this “tower of glasses” you always can find patterns to play with light and shadow but also daily life scenery. But unfortunately, it’s a private company so some are ok inside but some are not really open. But I always try, and if a private guard comes to me, I apologize in a polite way and leave the place. But as a photographer its always good to try to get a shot, if you are respectful and polite there is no reason to have any difficulty taking pictures in Tokyo.

SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, FUJIFILM X-S10,
ISO 250, F2.8, 1/320s | Nicolas Datiche

SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, FUJIFILM X-S10,
ISO 500, F3.2, 1/500s | Nicolas Datiche

Xavier:
Music inspires me a lot when I shoot in the city. I tend to choose the style of music and the album according to the neighborhood, my mood, the project and sometimes the gear I use.
For example, for all the pictures I took in Osaka with the SIGMA 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary, I listened to the latest album of the French rapper Orelsan called Civilisation that suited perfectly with the zoom lens and my mentality at the moment.