Kyoko Hisada - Hostess Diary - 1982

Hostess Diary

Kyoko Hisada
Banseisha/1982/Japanese/190*120*13

The Yagenbura Selected Works series, published by Banshōsha from the late 1970s through the 1980s, directly confronted society's margins—nightlife districts, youth culture, and manual labor—distinguished by its raw, unflinching documentation of subjects commercial publishers at the time found difficult to handle. Not only the content but also the book design received significant attention, with major designers like Kohei Sugiura and Kazushi Suzuki contributing, further enhancing the books' physical strength and presence. The series included works like Katsumi Watanabe's Discology and The Legend of the Shinjuku Gang, and Yoshichi Hara's My Gypsy Rose, which captured the chaos of the city from within. They leave a unique aftertaste, as if the humidity of the streets and the breath of its people were imprinted directly onto the pages. This book, Kyoko Hisada's Hostess Diary, is a matter-of-fact reportage of working women, but the photographs by Yoshichi Hara interspersed throughout add a nice touch.