Ruiko Yoshida - Black is Beautiful - 1972

Black is Beautiful

Ruiko Yoshida
Kodansha/1972/Japanese/150*210*15

*Hot Days in Harlem* is a photo-essay collection in which Japanese photojournalist Ruiko Yoshida (1934–2024) documented her life and encounters in Harlem, New York, during the late 1960s through photographs and writing. Yoshida, who traveled to the United States as a Fulbright scholar and studied photojournalism at Columbia University’s graduate school, covered issues such as racial discrimination, poverty, war, and the plight of women and children for many years, earning high acclaim as one of Japan’s leading photojournalists. This book is a masterpiece created while she lived alongside the residents of Harlem during a time when the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement were gaining momentum. While capturing the harsh realities of poverty, violence, and racial discrimination, she also turned her attention to the smiles of children, the bonds of family, and the community sustained by churches and music, presenting a multifaceted portrait of Harlem. This book, in which photography and reportage are organically intertwined, continued to receive high praise even after its initial publication. It was reissued in 1979 as part of the Kodansha Bunko series and again in 2024 by Chikuma Shobo’s “Chikuma Bunko” series, with a new essay by journalist Shiori Ito included. Even now, half a century later, it remains a classic that continues to be read as a representative work of Japanese photojournalism.