Carmen's Lips - A Night in Shinjuku Kabukicho (December 1974)

Carmen's Lips - A Night in Shinjuku Kabukicho (December 1974)

In 1974, as rapid economic growth came to an end, high prices and rising unemployment due to the oil shock cast a dark shadow over the lives of ordinary people. Against this backdrop, Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo, was attracting a diverse range of people as an obscene space where day and night intersected. At a snack bar in a corner of the entertainment district, a woman charmed customers with her exotic singing voice.

She had returned to Japan from Korea and Manchuria as a postwar repatriate and had lived in a corner of the city with her memories. Her voice over the counter was imbued with the melancholy and poise of someone who has put down roots in the city after mourning her homeland. Her songs, a mixture of Latin music and chansons, many of which she learned on the radio after the war, especially the melody of "Carmen," are filled with a longing for another culture and a prayer for the past.

Her voice, echoing in the small space of the snack bar, was not glamorous, but had the power to envelop the silence. Customers were lured by her voice to enjoy a moment of escape. The songs sometimes unwind the past, softly enveloping the pain of memories. The night was a special ritual that could only take place in the hustle and bustle of the city. Her presence, as a quiet flower blooming in the city at night, continued to connect the past and the present through her voice.