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Pin Drop: Tokyo, Japan

For the first instalment of our new photography series Pin Drop, Tokyo-based photographer Megan Alexander takes us on a tour of Tokyo’s nightlife.

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Megan Alexander is a photographer who uses her practice as a way to obsessively capture her real-world experiences in static form—her camera is a tool that helps her trust her sometimes unreliable memory. Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, she moved to Tokyo, Japan in 2018 to teach English and immerse herself in the famously outré culture.

Her Tokyo photo series is the first instalment of Pin Drop, our new series that showcases the vibrancy of cities around the world through the eyes of the creatives who both live and visit there. We asked Megan to tell us about her experiences of Tokyo’s nightlife that informed this series.

“I moved to Japan in August last year after being accepted into the JET program and being placed as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Tokyo. I teach English at a private, Buddhist Junior high school. My practice as a photographer is not really something I can define. I use heaps of different types of cameras and my work is constantly evolving. It totally depends on where I am and what’s inspiring me. But I have this sort of uncontrollable lust for creating images—I always think my need to document everything comes from the distrust I have for my memory. Like, if I don’t take a photo of this, I won’t remember it and it’s like it never happened.”

“Tokyo nightlife is a campy, neon dream come true and like nothing I have ever experienced! The trains stop running at 12.30–1.00am and don’t start again till around 5am, so if you’re too poor for a taxi like I am, you either have to cut your night short or commit to a big one. I normally commit. This series presents the happy antics of the queer, kawaii, disco, and karaoke realness that I live, laugh, and love most weekends. Since moving to Tokyo I have grown so much and have met so many beautiful people. I feel grateful everyday to call this my home!”

For more of Megan’s work, follow her here

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