As the sun sets over Tokyo, with Mount Fuji off in the hazy distance, we reflect on the past week of experiences and struggle to put into words the journey of exploration that we’ve been on.
It’s ironic that dusk carries such moments of reflection for our group since we’re in the land known as ‘Nippon, or ‘origins of the sun’. The irony is yet more pointed considering that the purpose of our journey is so strongly tied to a story of origins.
The journey
2016 sees Sony celebrating its 70th birthday, and we wanted to do something truly special to celebrate this milestone.
We have always prided ourselves on our ability to look forward and develop products and technology that are future-focused, but this can only be done with an understanding of what has been done before - the things that have driven success and the areas where we can make improvements.
And so, in true comic book style, we set about exploring the origin story of Sony by travelling to the place where it all began - Japan. Over the next twelve months we’ll be exploring the history, people, places and culture of Japan that has had such an influence on the way Sony operates, and to better understand ‘Why We Do What We Do’.
The travellers
Steeped in history and tradition, Japan offers a real sense of appreciation of the past, but in Tokyo especially, there is also the constant buzz of activity and celebration of youth, colour and technology. To say that Japan offers experiences of extreme diversity is perhaps a slight disservice to this amazing country, but it feels almost impossible to be able to tell the stories of this place without a slight sense of schizophrenia.
To help us capture these stories and the unique atmosphere of Japan, we enlisted the help of seven photographers from around Europe; artists selected because of the amazing ways they view, shoot and share their work on Instagram. Those seven are:
• Bobby Anwar (@bobbyanwar),
• Michael Schulz (@berlinstagram),
• Ana Barros (@anabarros),
• Vutheara Kham (@vutheara),
• Dan Rubin (@danrubin),
• Christina Andersen (@cirkeline), and
• Marco Gaggio (@neumarc)
The Task
Armed with a7 series cameras, our seven photographers had seven days to explore seven themes that celebrates seven decades of Sony. You could spend years in Japan exploring the culture and still only scratch the surface of what’s available, but we had just seven days, and so we set out to capture as much as we physically could.
Along the way we found ourselves meditating with Buddhist monks, seeing the future of automobiles presented by robotic engineers, visiting a 24th-generation blacksmith whose family business spans more than 800 years, and jumping around to J-Pop bands in a dingy basement venue at 10am on a Saturday – and that’s to name just a few of the many highlights that we crammed into the week.
Over the next few months we’ll be recounting these stories in more detail through the eyes of our photographers and the words of the people that we met. We’ll also be talking to Sony engineers and designers to learn how our own history and culture has influenced their feelings, thoughts and dreams as we look to move forward to the next 70 years.
