Bulgarian-born photographer Pepa Hristova has always drawn inspiration for her work from issues of identity. Her travels in Japan for this series brought home to her the importance of questions surrounding work, sexuality and leisure, and the way that old and new coexist in a modern metropolis. [...]
Tokyo is the biggest metropolis in the world. It is like a gigantic machine: everything feels very disciplined and well-connected. Even the people seem to “work” with order and mechanical precision — and they work constantly. If you meet up with a Japanese man for dinner, you may find that he returns to his office straight after, even if it is midnight, even on a weekend. I’ve never heard anyone say, “I’m tired, I really need to go home,” as would be the norm at home in Germany. At the same time, it is hard to tell what the Japanese are really thinking as they often wear a mask of politeness.[...]
I went to the meido cafés in Electronic Town Akihabara, a part of Tokyo, where many young women work wearing school or servants’ uniforms. They follow the principle “17 forever”, behaving intentionally in a submissive and childish way and preparing dishes and drinks clumsily which they then serve on their knees. They also paint little hearts with ketchup on the plates and address the predominantly male clientele as “My Lord”. For an additional charge, the meidos offer their customers foot massages, too. There are hundreds of meido cafés in Tokyo; they are an integral part of Japanese society. I intended to take pictures of these girls while they were not “performing”. This was a great challenge, since they just always appear sweet and cute, with their kitty-voices and twinkling eyes. I wasn’t sure if they actually still manage anymore to distinguish their parallel existence.
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