Feeling out of touch with Japan, Japanese photographer Hashiguchi George travelled almost the whole of Japan, from Rebun Island in Hokkaido in the north to the Yonakuni Island in Okinawa in the south from March 1987 to January 1988. This monograph is a collection of photographs of the 17-year olds he met during this trip. Through these portraits of teenagers, Hashiguchi managed to rediscover Japan in a broader view.

'People are saying today that values have diversified and there is more choice now in everything. But I often think it's the other way round. It seems that the tendency to measure things and people by one scale alone, and to squeeze them into one framework is as strong as ever. I wanted to see with my own eyes, and check in my own way, the Japan today where everything in society seemed about to flow forth in one direction. I wondered whether there wasn't a common factor with which to get a cross section of Japan. The answer was, again, teenagers.' - from the article by Hashiguchi Geroge.

Each photograph is accompanied by a short description in Japanese with information about the profession, family, hobby, and aspirations of the teenager in the picture.