Booklaunch of “Tokyo Tokyo” by Richard Koek at Rizzoli Bookstore, including conversation with Masako Shiba

Wed, May 29 - Wed, May 29  2024

Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, New York, NY

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 - 6:00 PM

Join Rizzoli at its bookstore at 1133 Broadway to celebrate the launch of Richard Koek‘s new book Tokyo Tokyo, which captures the everyday magic of the Japanese capital. Koek will be in conversation with Masako Shiba, followed by a signing.

Tokyo Tokyo by Richard Koek (April 2024) is a unique book by photographer Richard Koek about one of the world’s largest cities, Tokyo. The visitor of this megalopolis in Japan will see a lot of neon and plastic, but also traditional kimonos and cherry blossoms. Fashion and advertising are at least as important as etiquette and tidiness. In Tokyo, Tokyo Koek reveals the true face of a city where tradition and innovation go hand in hand. Surely the stereotypes are a subject of his photographs, but Koek always gives them his own twist. His colorful images are raw, realistic and extremely striking. Koek knows how to capture the magic of everyday life by putting the ordinary on a pedestal. The beauty of the image and the story behind it always go hand in hand in his works. This is how he shows a different side of the city.

After his bestselling book NEW YORK NEW YORK Richard Koek embarks on a new adventure. This time the city of Greater Tokyo. With over 40 million citizens, twice as many as NYC, Koek knew Tokyo could not be contained in a typical photography book. He investigates the balance between the amazing aesthetics of traditional Japan, such as the Kimono, the Sakura (cherry blossom), the Sumo wrestler and the beauty of citizens living everyday life. Koek shows us that these patterns of urban life are universal. —
Timon Screech, Professor International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto

About the photographer

Dutch-Argentinian photographer, Richard Koek (Instagram @RichardKoek, is a visual poet who shares his love for New York City and Tokyo by celebrating the people who live and work there daily. His sensibility for a complicated street life in these cities surfaces in his images. Instead of the well-known “decisive moment,” Koek invites his viewers to form their own interpretation of his work by focusing on the concept of commonplace beauty and the connection it makes with our authentic selves. Richard Koek (Ilpendam 1965) gave up practicing tax law to move to New York City and pursue his passion. His photographs are in collections world-wide including the National Archives of Holland, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Royal Tropical Institute of Amsterdam. His first book NEW YORK NEW YORK was published by Lannno Publishers in 2018, followed by a second edition of the book in 2021. Koek works for various international publications, companies and non-profit organizations. He lives in NYC with Ivy and his daughter Skylar. Instagram