Renowned Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama began capturing Japan’s postwar street scenes in the early 1960s. Throughout his distinguished career Moriyama won several photography awards around the world, including ones issued by camera manufacturers Hasselblad and Asahi. He has published over 150 photo books, but the majority of his work was done in black and white. This photo of a Kenmeri Skyline is one of Moriyama’s rare color images, and what a colorful one it is! Not only is the custom C110 metallic purple, it’s driving in front of a brightly decorated Tokyo pachinko parlor. Fortuitous capture of a kaido racer mid-transformation, or a keen eye seizing upon the societal upheaval taking place? As with all good photographers, perhaps a bit of both.
I have heard people talking about feeling nostalgia for places and times they never visited/lived and pictures like this give me that vibe.
Was this before the time when Japanese saw purple as a tuner color, or was this picture taken right as someone busted out their personalised car?
You could special order a colour called “Lavender Metallic” on particular models for some years. Most likely that is the color shown here. It’s possibly the rarest colour for the early Skylines.
A bit off topic..I hope all our JNC friends in the LA area are safe.