A Christmas Carol (in Tokyo 2017)
Category: C
Year: 2017
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Artist: Noriko Suzuki-Bosco
Year: 2017
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Artist: Noriko Suzuki-Bosco
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens tells a story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser, who becomes transformed into a kinder and gentler man following the visit by different ghosts. When I read the story as a child I remember being terrified of the visions of the ghosts visiting Scrooge. I was particularly frightened of the ghost with the heavy chain wrapped around the neck. The fact that the story had a happy ending somehow escaped me and for a long time I believed A Christmas Carol to be a horror story.
The altered book was made during a Christmas visit to Tokyo in 2017. Christmas in Japan, especially in big cities like Tokyo, is purely commercial. There is no pretence. People eat, drink, exchange gifts if they like, and simply be merry. I enjoy the lack of obligation and commitment that seem to underpin Christmases in the West. The altered book contains pictures of ‘Christmas cakes’ advertised in department stores and also functions as a journal, recording my stay in Tokyo. In hindsight, I think I should have made the pages more merry. They look washed out and melancholic. Perhaps the ghosts of A Christmas Carol were still affecting my feelings toward the book.
The altered book was made during a Christmas visit to Tokyo in 2017. Christmas in Japan, especially in big cities like Tokyo, is purely commercial. There is no pretence. People eat, drink, exchange gifts if they like, and simply be merry. I enjoy the lack of obligation and commitment that seem to underpin Christmases in the West. The altered book contains pictures of ‘Christmas cakes’ advertised in department stores and also functions as a journal, recording my stay in Tokyo. In hindsight, I think I should have made the pages more merry. They look washed out and melancholic. Perhaps the ghosts of A Christmas Carol were still affecting my feelings toward the book.