Araki interviewed by Jérôme Sans

"This book displays my life, the women, my wife, and city streets..." - Nobuyoshi Araki

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I think this attitude reflects a paradox of Japan, which has laws against pornography.
Yes, and that's been continuing since the Edo period. It may seem ambiguous, paradoxical. Even if a strict law on censorship has been established, everything and anything still exists in Japan despite it all. It's always very tangled and complex. There is the glamor of dissimilarity. And it happens that paradoxical things get mixed up. In Japan, you can tie up a girl and take a photograph of her without being condemned to death. It's unexpectedly benevolent. Christian countries are much severe in that sense. Europe is more tolerant. Even if the Vatican does not approve, it still accepts my work. The United States is particularly strict and severe. I don't take any risks showing pictures of little girls or women in bondage over there. Compared to the Edo period, I think the period we're living through is sexually impoverished, but there's still a confused atmosphere about sex that I like.

Why is bondage a recurrent theme in your work?
Kinbaku (knots with ropes) are different from bondage. I only tie up a woman's body because I know I cannot tie up her heart. Only her physical parts can be tied up. Tying up a woman becomes an embrace.

What are the little plastic dinosaurs doing in your universe? What exactly do they represent? Does each one have a specific identity?
I'm a person who needs company all the time. I need to have playmates around me because I often feel lonely. These monsters are my alter ego. They signify my desire to be in my photos, as though they were parts of my body. I love these dinosaurs and I have the simple desire to be with them all the time and to collect them. This is a sexual desire. I want to take photos of the things I love and always be with them.

My balcony's empty right now because these dinosaurs have not returned from my Paris show. They're still stuck in Japanese customs, and I miss them terribly. So now my cat Chiro is also feeling lonesome and pouting a little bit. He's lying on top of Waneen (a large crocodile-object), but he misses them too.

Each dinosaur has a meaning. But it's important for me that they all stay together. Of course each one has its own charm. I even give each of them a name. But the basic reason of my interest in them is that I often feel lonely and would like them to liven up my house. I have lots of flowers for the same reasons. Sentimental loneliness. It relates to the warmth of the womb. I'm a baby and an infant. I can't forget the warmth of the womb. I also like hot springs, which represent a womb of some kind.

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