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Anti-nuclear photos
mark Japanese trip
PHOTOJOURNEY: Lee Ping-hua spent 14 days
traveling around Japan, asking people to pose for photographs while holding
copies of famous anti-nuclear posters
By Wang Shan-yan and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff
writer
Three Japanese people hold
anti-nuclear posters designed by illustrator Yoshitomo Nara in one of a series
of photographs taken by Taiwanese photographer Lee Ping-hua during a trip to
Japan in July.
Photo: Courtesy of Lee Ping-hua
A 31-year-old Taiwanese photographer who
backpacked around Japan in July found that people in the two countries, despite
their different languages, share the same desire for a nuclear-free and safer
planet.
Carrying an anti-nuclear cardboard sign reading ¡§No Nukes,¡¨ Lee Ping-hua (§õªÃ¾ì),
who only speaks broken Japanese, invited 25 groups of Japanese he encountered at
random during his 14-day trip to pose for a photograph while holding copies of
an anti-nuclear poster designed by celebrated Japanese illustrator Yoshitomo
Nara.
Lee¡¦s idea to shoot a set of anti-nuclear themed photographs to boost awareness
was spurred by the lukewarm responses Taiwanese netizens gave to the worst
nuclear disasters in Japanese history following the magnitude 9 earthquake and
tsunami on March 11 last year.
¡§I was surprised to find that nuclear disasters could be so close to Taiwan,¡¨
Lee said.
The 31-year-old was able to put his idea into practice after he won return air
tickets from Taiwan to Japan in a lucky draw contest.
To flesh out his campaign, Lee drew inspiration from a series of anti-nuclear
events staged by Nara and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
He then made several copies of Yoshitomo¡¦s ¡§No Nukes¡¨ posters and requested his
brother, an amateur painter, design a sign similar to an anti-nuclear one that
Miyazaki had hung around his neck during a protest.
With four cameras in his backpack, Lee randomly stopped pedestrians and asked
them to do a photo shoot with the poster using simple Japanese and body
language.
Trudging from Osaka through Kanazawa to Hokkaido, Lee finished 25 sets of
pictures and lost 6kg along the way.
¡§Before I set foot in Japan, I was already mentally prepared for rejections.
While there were people who flatly turned down my request, there were also
people who shared my beliefs, readily agreed to the photo shoot and even taught
me how to pronounce ¡¥nuclear power¡¦ in Japanese,¡¨ Lee said.
¡§It was a worthwhile and productive journey,¡¨ he added.
Lee¡¦s advocacy efforts were not only welcomed by Japanese, but also people in
Taiwan, as the photographs he shared on backpackers.com.tw have received fervent
responses and triggered widespread online discussions.
¡§Changes to a society, or a country, almost always hail from a small change by
an individual. [What Lee has done] is rather touching,¡¨ a Taiwanese netizen,
identified as elisa1024, commented on the Web site.
While expressing gratitude to people who believe in him, Lee said he hoped his
actions could draw more attention, as well as support, to the anti-nuclear
issue.
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