SB23 #10

The tenth in a series of photo editions minted in 2023. August 2020 was hot and rainy, making the usual summer humidity that much worse. Add in the fear and restrictions around the first wave of COVID which we'd been dealing with for over 6 months at this point and a normal day at this point was already quite stressful. But on this day in particular the contrast of a far right (actual) nazi demonstration overlapping with a Black Lives Matter march in Shibuya Crossing was something I'll never forget. The anti-racist counter protesters outnumbered the nazis a good 20:1 even before the BLM march arrived, and there were dozens of police assigned to keep the peace. The wild thing to me, having experienced a lot of violence around this topic first hand, was that even in this incredibly uncomfortable and high tension situation, people barely raised their voices. The politeness of Japanese society was evident even here, as people in both camps were careful not to bump into anyone as they calmly handed out their respective flyers.