The scarce first book from Japanese photographer Chikashi Kasai, published a year after his debut solo exhibition of the same title at Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo. Crediting an encounter with Nan Goldin’s famous self-portrait Nan One Month After Being Battered, 1984 as a major motivation to do so, Kasai began his own photographic practice in the early 90s after returning to Tokyo from spending his adolescence in Germany. The photographers’ paths eventually crossed in person in 1994, when Goldin discovered Kasai’s work hung on the walls of a club in Roppongi. Goldin immediately made a date to photograph him and his lover, Mika–the subject of the club wall photographs–and from there, a personal and professional relationship grew. Initially a purist, influenced by the likes of Daido Moriyama, Kasai believed in the sanctity of black-and-white as the true photographic medium. However the summer after their meeting, Kasai went to study under Goldin and her collaborator David Armstrong in Salzburg, where they encouraged his transition from black-and-white to colour photography.

In Tokyo Dance, Kasai navigates the city’s bustling streets in search of snatches of intimacy, photographing Tokyo nightclubs, lovers, and subway-riding businessmen. This first edition includes both black-and-white and colour images, juxtaposing Tokyo skyscrapers with these personal moments, the toes of his lover and her face during orgasm, exploring what Goldin terms the “youthful rebellion” and evolving gender identities of 1990s Tokyo.