Everyday Memory Map: Fukagawa and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa 1960-2019

What did the landscape look like to someone in the past, from this very spot where I now stand?

This booklet is by Ayako Sato, who devised and practices the "Everyday Memory Map" method. This method involves tracing an individual's "frequently visited places/routes" on a map during a specific period of their life and then asking about their reasons and habits, thereby unearthing small memories and episodes related to those places.

In this book, ten episodes are presented, drawing from the memories of eight residents of Tokyo's Fukagawa and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa areas, spanning from the 1960s to 2019. These episodes are supplemented with maps illustrating the routes taken at the time, photographs of the places featured in the episodes, and a report by Sato, who walked through the area today, retracing those memories.

These deeply personal episodes, which Sato refers to as "weak memories," are tied to places in the same area such as rivers, parks, shopping streets, main streets, libraries, and art museums. They allow readers to envision the landscapes and memories of places within individuals that would likely not surface from guidebooks or official records.

How does the place where one was born and raised live within oneself, and how can one confront the landscape currently before them through the eyes of others? This book offers a starting point for slowly focusing on the relationship between people and places within the flow of time, and for rediscovering familiar landscapes anew.