Loneliness, the fireworks

that flore - later,  falls

one star.

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), Haiku

淋しさや花火のあとの星の飛

ぶ 正岡子規

In the collective imagination of the Western world, talking about Japan means evoking its extraordinary modernity which goes hand in hand with ancient traditions, wild nature

which stops in the transience of the spectacle of the cherry blossoms as in the imperturbable profile of Mount Fuji, the stopped time of the Great Wave of the master Hokusai or which escapes

away on supersonic elevated trains. Skyscrapers and pagodas, robots and geishas, ​​the crowds of Shybuya, the compressed bodies of subway cars.

And many lonely people.

122 million lives (that's how many inhabitants of Japan will be registered in 2023) that intertwine, touch each other, often don't even touch each other. Since 2021 has been created the

Ministry for Loneliness which aims to monitor situations of social isolation "for the promotion of the dynamic involvement of all citizens".

The images reproduced here scrutinize faces, spy on thoughts, caress variously intertwined gazes.

The result is an universal story that goes beyond the stereotypes and contingent situations from which the shot was born, a reflection on the daily life of a humanity in constant motion.

Everything will work out in the end.

Nankuru nai sa.

なんくるないさ