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An island nation, built upon the framework of modern imperial rule, emerged to the east of the Eurasian continent, separated by the sea. Since its inception, various circumstances have continuously generated people forced into migration. One of the things photography in this book seeks to capture is the juxtaposition between the lands from which displaced individuals originally hailed and the northern islands they migrated to. One such island, dubbed"Hokkaido"by the newly formed nation, was incorporated into the state alongside its indigenous Ainu people and became a target for colonization from the mainland. Simultaneously, numerous forced relocations of the Ainu people became institutionalized.

Additionally, this book primarily focuses on various regions such as parts of the cities Tokyo and Sapporo, where the administrative body known as the"Development Commission,"which was heavily involved in these relocations, was established post-state formation, regions formed by the mining industry now facing decline and extinction, and these various territories are captured through photography.

Located in the heart of Tokyo, the city where the Development Commission was placed and surrounded by various powers constituting the nation's authority, lies the"Imperial Palace,"an invisible space where residing is excluded, and one of the subjects of this book.

On the other hand, in recent years, we have experienced the emergence of highly unique spaces in our archipelago. This includes the formation of the"Difficult-to-Return Zone"and its surrounding areas, contaminated by high levels of radioactive materials due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Once again, people were forced to move from their traditional homes and leave the area.

This attempt to find strong homogeneity between these vastly different spaces in origin, history, and time̶the Difficult-to-Return Zone and the Imperial Palace̶forms another axis of this book.

The forces that gave rise to the Imperial Palace and the Difficult-to-Return Zone continue to create several spaces that appear similar or homogenous to them. These spaces, inherently invisible due to the exclusion of habitation, intersect and overlap with the locations constituting the first axis, appearing in our sight. Therefore, what appears in photographs̶the seemingly visible landscapes, cities, mines, nuclear power plants, farmlands, and the residences of those who live there̶forms part of this book.

These photographs are juxtaposed with timelines of events that occurred in those places and spaces. However, the timelines compiled here are merely arbitrary listings of events selected from existing or perpetually ongoing event descriptions. The photographs taken here merely fix fragments of chance encounters at specific times and places.

Spaces akin to the Imperial Palace and the Difficult-to-Return Zone, with their homogeneity, pervade invisibly. If so, we must resist the rituals that have repeatedly occurred in spaces where habitation is excluded and create and conduct something akin tocounter-rituals, not to remember something, but never to forget. It's about probing our dwelling places with our own "life" perspective, revealing unseen layers, honing our vision to expose the turmoil and chaos.