Sentimental Journey 2

Nobuyoshi Araki
Sentimental Journey 2

Photographs: Nobuyoshi Araki

Publisher: Super Labo

32 pages

Pictures: 62

Year: 2015

Comments: Softcover (hand-shawn), double gatefold cover, 280 x 216 mm. Doubletone Offset / Fullcolor Offset (cover). Black & white photographs. First edition, 2015. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

Sentimental Journey Continued is a book of photographs self-published by Nobuyoshi Araki in 1971 in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Printed on the cover and spine is "荒木経惟写真集２[Nobuyoshi Araki Photobook 2]" as it was his second self-published photography book excluding the rarely-seen, self-published Xerox Photo Albums from 1970. "沖縄[Okinawa]" is also on the cover in big letters but the book in fact only includes a few pictures of Okinawa.
If Araki’s photographs of his honeymoon are considered the beginning of Sentimental Journey, it can be said that the life of the newlywed couple that followed is indeed Sentimental Journey Continued.

Sentimental Journey 2 was first conceived when Araki handed me Sentimental Journey Continued in a bar in Shinjuku and proposed, "How about making a new book out of the images in this book?"
This was his answer to our proposition to participate in the series "SUPER LABO 32."

While we usually make photography books from photographs, this project involved making a book from another book- a genuine duplication. Araki himself entitled the book, "Sentimental Journey 2."
We were extremely thrilled that he appointed us to work with him on this endeavor and we knew the significance of the project we were entrusted with.

Although the overall format, number of pages, and budget of each volume is already designated for the series, we decided not to consider the restriction of budget only for Araki's volume to seek the best result within the given conditions.
Sentimental Journey is a special body of work, meaning a lot to us and to the entire history of Japanese photography.

Hideki Nakajima, the designer of the book, is one of only a few designers extremely familiar with Araki's work and one of the leading graphic designers in Japan. A task under various restrictions is generally difficult but may lead to an incredible result. Nakajima demonstrated this with ease.
The scanned and reproduced images, the sequence, the selection of paper and printing of this book are the fruit of Nakajima's thorough comprehension of the meaning and significance of Araki's photographs, not simply the result of a graphic design and layout process.
Araki's look of satisfaction when he saw the dummy of the book seemed to express this more than anything.