Stomach-Foot

There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there.

"If the social phenomena captured in these photographs seem distinctly linked to Japanese culture, Mr. Yoshiyuki’s images of voyeurs reverberate well beyond it. Viewing his pictures means that you too are looking at activities not meant to be seen. We line up right behind the photographer, surreptitiously watching the peeping toms who are secretly watching the couples. Voyeurism is us."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/arts/design/23geft.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/arts/20070923_YOSHIYUKI_FEATURE/blocker.html#

The Great Happiness Space

"The lives of the hosts and their customers at first seemed to be extreme and unfathomably foreign from a western perspective. Although many people in Japan see hosts as despicable I see hosts involved in something that is close to all of our hearts, which is the struggle between making a buck and doing the right thing. There is real fascination in looking at this strange form of emotional pseudo prostitution that caters to some women's desires so successfully that they will got to almost any lengths, and pay thousands of dollars to consume it.

I felt no need to be judgmental ... The extent to which there are parallels between female prostitution and male host culture is left up to viewer, but everyone in the film is paying a price one way or another. " - Jake Clennell (Director)

http://www.thegreathappinessspace.com/
Watch: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6186147595582048109