The reason why photographer Hiroyoshi Hara chases the "disliked" Tokyo city mouse <dot.>

* * * Mr. Hara takes a picture of a mouse living in Tokyo. Such a work "Machi no Nenisumu" won the Ina Nobuo Award. [Click here for Hiroyoshi Hara's work]

"Oh, you think it's a mouse. As you can see from the picture, I'm in such a familiar place. However, when I started shooting, I didn't know about mice at all. I noticed, "says Hara. However, it is not only Mr. Hara. As for the mice that live in the city, "A world that no one has ever seen properly. It's not something you bother to see." Furthermore, it is hated. "By the way, I don't even think about protecting them. However, the mouse you think is quite different from what you actually see. For example, a mouse is one in a restaurant. If you have a mouse, you can talk about it like a mouse. But in reality, it's normal. I've shot it many times in front of a famous shop. It's not odd in the city of Tokyo anymore. There are a number of mice. ”So,“ I'll tell you now, ”said the scene I saw at the Tsukiji Market (Chuo-ku, Tokyo), which was abolished four years ago. "When the market opened and the wholesalers' stores started to close, mice gradually came out from under the floor. At one time, more than 100 mice. I wondered if there were so many. It was usually on the floor where the tuna had been placed before. "But I'm not going to take such a picture sensationally. "It's a nuisance to the store if you can see the name of the store in the picture of the mouse, and the picture taken like that is vulgar and vulgar. I have removed it. "■ It was about 10 years ago that Mr. Hara, who could not find it for the first few years, decided to take a picture of a mouse. "I happened to see a mouse in the city. A mouse was trying to go to the garbage on the side of the road, and a pigeon was obstructing the way. I happened to have a mouse with an atmosphere of what to do. I took it with the camera I was using. When I saw the finished photo, I thought that the mouse was quite photogenic. "That triggered Mr. Hara, who came up with the idea of ​​taking a mouse, but suddenly the wall. I bumped into it. "I thought it would be easy to find because it's an animal close to humans, and I thought it would be easy to get close to it. But it's ridiculous. If you don't know the mouse, you can't really do anything."