Haruo TomiyamaGendai gokan/ Popular life today

After teaching himself photography, Tomiyama worked as a commissioned photographer for the magazine Josei Jishin and the photography department of Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc., where he distinguished himself through the Gendai gokan series. This was a social commentary comprising photographs and essays by different individuals on the themes of various Japanese words that appeared frequently in the mass media of the day, such as “overcrowding,” “togetherness,” or “tolerance.” Responsibility for the photographs in the series was shared among members of the Asahi Shimbun photography department, while the essays were penned by well-known writers such as Tadasu Iizawa and Kenzaburo Oe. The series became a hit for its shrewd satire of social conditions in Japan as the country was in the midst of rapid economic growth and standing on the brink of a revolution in values. Tomiyama's photographs in particular stood out for their distinctive interpretations of the words and their capacity for humorous expression, which made a huge impression on the magazine's readers. Tomiyama subsequently made this series his lifework and spent around 40 years taking photographs that depicted his times and popular words, publishing his works intermittently in a number of magazines under the Gendai gokan title.