Between the imaginary and the real - A night in Shinjuku and a scene of "Kokeshi" (November 1970)

Between the imaginary and the real - A night in Shinjuku and a scene of "Kokeshi" (November 1970)

In 1970, the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, especially the Kabukicho area, was at the peak of its rapid economic growth and was attracting attention as one of the most chaotic and diverse places in Tokyo. By day, it was a bustling place of buildings and traffic, and by night, it was a place where theaters, cabarets, jazz cafes, small underground theaters, and clubs and bars lined the streets in a flood of neon lights, where sexual minorities, young expressionists, and outsiders gathered.

The cross-dresser "Kokeshi" was a figure who expressed herself in the anonymity and heat of Shinjuku. With the fashion sense of a graduate of the Nagasawa Setsu Mode Seminar, she did not rely on kimono, but wore a see-through white suit, large sunglasses, and heavy makeup, calling herself "Elizabeth Taylor in the mirror. Her presence was so prominent that it was said that the atmosphere of the bar would be transformed just by her/his appearance.

At that time, Shinjuku was an "experimental city" with gay bars, cross-dressing clubs, mini-theaters, and small theaters, as well as a center of underground culture where artists and thinkers such as Shuji Terayama, Juro Karo, and Akihiro Miwa were active, and where challenging discourses that shook the existing sense of values flew about. It was an "experimental city. The expression of cross-dressing was also an act that stood at the forefront of urban culture, laughing off dichotomies such as "male/female" and "real/fake" by blurring the boundaries of sexuality and gender.

The kokeshi doll was not just an eccentricity, but a symbol of the intersection of postwar Japanese popular culture, fashion, gender, and urbanity. And the setting of Shinjuku made this possible. Shinjuku was a place where one could be anyone, and at the same time, a place where one could be no one at all. It was this ambiguity that allowed a character like Kokeshi, who was seeking a real image within a false image, to shine.