Tokyo after three years (ENG) | Interview with Matthias Freissler
Matthias, the guest we interviewed for our first issue, has finally returned to Tokyo on holiday after a three year absence due to the global pandemic. We sat down together to get an update on his life and talk about what it feels like to be in Tokyo after all this time.
▼日本語版はこちらから (Japanese version)
Contents
Return to Germany
AND TOKYO (Pat):
What has changed in the past three years for you since you were last here?
Matthias:
Shortly after I went back to Germany, or even when I was still here, I worked with a company called Vodafone and I did freelance work for them. I was basically providing content for their social media channels where I had some of my pictures colored or edited with red, or was doing location hunting, searching for red buildings. Then I had a few smaller video jobs, a few smaller photography jobs as well. This was all freelance, and I wasn't living in a big city, so there was not that much going on.
After a while, I decided that I would apply for a full time job and I ended up doing work for e-commerce. This is what I'm still doing now. This was from 2019, so it's been four years. We don't have to mention much about the photography e-commerce stuff, because that's nothing special. I mean, I also did a bit of social media work for them, which is actually a bit cooler, and one of my images got published in Vogue, Vogue magazine, but it was just an advertisement. So it's cool, but it's nothing super special.
Then after one and a half years, I kind of reached the limit of what I felt I could do there and the company couldn't offer me anything in terms of moving forward to another position or anything, so I decided to leave and then I applied for an art director job, where I've been working with Adidas. Currently, I am the art director for elevated content, additional content, call it whatever you want.
So I have a team, a photographer, stylist, hair and makeup. Basically I'm telling the whole team what the images should look like, I'm telling the model what to do, sometimes I'm dancing on the set to show them what the pose should look like, and so on. This is what I'm doing now.
Tokyo after 3 years
P: You're finally back in Tokyo after three years, which you didn't notice until I told you, right? How does it feel?
M: It's good, but it's a bit weird. So for this first week, I haven't actually done much of the photography I wanted to do or make the connections I wanted to. Instead, I walked around a lot, of course, like there's many things I remembered. And there's many things that are still the same. But it feels a bit weird because some of the buildings are not there anymore, or they are going to be demolished now, which is sad. Actually, one of the buildings that is going to be demolished, I wanted to do a project about it, like make a small book.
Yeah, and here, I mean, everything is more or less the same. For me, I don't know how I should feel because it's like, at one point, I feel pressure that something has to happen now. Like, I need to meet someone now. Or I have to find a job now. So this like, it's a 50/50 thing. I'm happy that I can be here but I can. I'm not relaxed about it because I'm turning old this year, officially.
From now
M: And also I want to move back to Tokyo. But I need to find something stable because I think I can’t come back with a freelance job. Or oh, yeah, maybe someone wants to learn German blah, blah, blah. Or maybe there is a photography job for ¥10,000. So. I feel a bit under pressure.
Return to Tokyo
P: When I picked you up at the airport and we got on the train, it was cool to see you jumping around, looking at all the places. And you know, there's the first time someone comes to Tokyo and they're doing that and they're like, “wow, big city, Blade Runner,” right? But then there's you who, it's more like, “oh, I remember this.” When you're in Germany, It doesn't seem like you are really doing architecture photography so much. It's been a long time since you've done stuff like that. So on that first train ride, or that first day, did you feel something? Or is this connected to that pressure that you're feeling?
Just being able to see all these places again, it reminds me of the past. It reminds me of what I still want to do.
M: The first thing was the smell. That's important. Because the air or trains, it just smells different. And I think it's just looking out the window and knowing where we are. For example, I know that if I look to the right, there is this building. I went there like four years ago, or there's this building I wanted to go to and didn't do so. There's just a lot coming back.
It is kind of like where I left off. Last time, I had to leave. It wasn't my decision to go back to Germany. Since then, it has felt like something is unfinished. So just being able to see all these places again, it reminds me of the past. It reminds me of what I still want to do.
Changes
P: Has Tokyo changed at all?
M: The bigger stations like Shinjuku or Shibuya, a lot has changed there, like the entrances or the exits are somewhere else or suddenly there's a connection that wasn't there before. That is a bit confusing. But besides that, I think mostly everything has stayed the same. I mean, yes, because of the pandemic, some things are more contactless or you have to deal more with machines, like at the conbini, but I think this is happening everywhere. So I wouldn't say this is like, wow, Tokyo has changed so much. It's just that a lot of buildings have changed. That's normal in a big city like this, but if you look at the people on the street, they act the same I think.
P: How do you feel about the mask situation?
M: For me it's okay because I wear them in Germany. In Germany, we are actually still wearing masks even though elsewhere in Europe no one is wearing them. I'm fine with it either way, but I prefer to wear a mask. Outside, it is a bit different because if you walk in the open air and there's not a lot of people around you, then probably you don't need to wear a mask if you don’t have an allergy or something. But, anyways, I'm good with the masks.
Future
P: I asked you this question last time in 2020, so this will be the 2023 edition, but what are your hopes for the future?
M: I hope the pressure will be gone. I hope that somehow I can make good connections with people in my limited time here, as I'm still looking for an opportunity to maybe exhibit my works in Tokyo. Also, I want to find people that could potentially help me find work in photography, possibly more e-commerce photography, so that I can relocate here on a more permanent basis.
▼日本語版はこちらから (Japanese version)
マツさんのインスタ｜Matthias's instagram
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