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Where is Japan

Swiss photographer Andri Pol searches for the real Japan behind Western clichés.

Say “Japan” and most Europeans think of temples, cherry blossom, samurais, geishas and Zen. This romanticised image has more to do with European longings and utopian ideals than with contemporary Japan. Andri Pol has visited the Japanese Islands over many years and taken pictures purposefully avoiding any such soft-focus clichés. His collection, Where is Japan, comprises 227 images and is published by Steidl Verlag, Göttingen.

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