Yesterday I found myself in the very unusual position of being in a Bob Dylan song. From 1966. Well, sort of.
Butoh dancers against nuclear power, Tokyo, Japan, 2012. ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2012, all rights reserved.
It’s been a busy ol’ time as an editorial assignment photographer working in Tokyo, Japan, covering many demonstrations as of late for clients. The anti-nuclear protests seem to be coming at the rate of one every few days. This weekend was no exception, with a rally on Saturday prior to the Tomari nuclear plant in Hokkaido being taken offline, leaving Japan with none of it’s 50 reactors online or producing energy. And then yesterday in Tokyo’s Koenji district, an area known for it’s hippy tendencies, there was a ‘Nuclear free Japan celebration parade’, which I thought I’d attend, and try for more images.
And jeez, was it it a bit mad. The whole thing started at three o’clock fast. Clowns, girls in bikinis, drums of fury, a Mexican in a sombrero, two dragons, Che Guevara, belly dancers and a few hundred police, all were in attendance. All in a carnival mood, except the police. And then bang on cue, as the parade was beginning to move off the rain began to fall, a hard rain in many ways. There was a sudden decision to make, stay in the open and shoot images, or seek shelter from the storm? I chose the later, the afternoon was young, and there was no need to get seriously wet, or the cameras broken. The rain was coming in horizontal sheets.
And for the next hour it was stop and start, the procession stopped and started, the tropical thunderstorms stopped and started, (and sadly I was to find out later, turned into a typhoon in Ibaraki north of Tokyo, wrecking homes and killing one young boy). But the rain didn’t deter the belly dancers, who shimmied and shaked along the streets, protected from the traffic by a battalion of stony faced police.
Belly dancers against nuclear power, Tokyo, Japan, 2012. ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2012, all rights reserved.
The Drums of Fury beat a mean rhythm to their anti-nuclear chants, their faces covered against the rain, and from the police cameras. In another section of the parade an old man pushed his zimmer frame whilst chanting his anti-nuclear message quietly. Near him families walked with their children who blew bubbles. A man dressed as a crocodile, or perhaps it was Godzilla, stood on the pavement taking photos. And way down in front some clowns carried a dancing dragon, whilst a woman painted white and wearing only a bikini danced beside her friend in a red wispy dress, a type of dance I can only describe as Japanese butoh, even thought I’m not really sure what Butoh consists of.
Butoh dancers against nuclear power, Tokyo, Japan, 2012. ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2012, all rights reserved.
The music was loud and continuous, from the band on the back of a truck, to the mobile karaoke van with people stepping up to shout their anti-nuclear sentiments and then launch into their favourite songs. A man wearing a tambourine around his neck beat a drumstick on an old saucepan, the repetitive tin tin tin denting his pan nicely in one spot. Nearby a man played a flute and another hit a gong.
Finally the parade reached it’s destination, and the beat rose to a crescendo, the dragons and koi carp danced in the park, as a yukata-clad man waved an Edo period flag with a 21st century message on it. The protesters filed in, a Mexican band man wearing a sombrero came in past the yellow faced mudman, and the beautiful girl with the red ribbons in her hair. The Butoh dancers ran ecstatically around, whilst the jokers and clowns jumped and caroused. The guitars played as the skirts swayed.
Penny whistle player against nuclear power, Tokyo, Japan, 2012. ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2012, all rights reserved.
The parade was over, vintage protest Dylan it wasn’t, more like being in Blonde On Blonde. The weather had been tumultuous and the anti-nuclear sentiments were obvious, and the last reactor had been turned off. It had all been quite evident that in Koenji you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
