Daniele Martire

Purgatorio, circle of lust. ‘Or sai nostri atti e di che fummo rei: se forse a nome vuo’ saper chi semo, tempo non è di dire, e non saprei’.

Circle of lust, seventh and last round of the Purgatorio project: here they take delight the souls of people who pretend to enjoy life.
Tokyo is also a city of lust: sex is an inseparable charm of the city, its scent and visuals are in every spots. Pachinko slots, in where people try to win money by losing them, adds to the sound of the city with their exhausting metallic noises and flash lights. All quietly managed by the yakuza, (almost) standing in the sun.
But here the focus is instead on the fully legal lust of smoking, that has almost nothing to do with criminal organizations, but only reminiscence of cool movie characters.
People want to be cool too, pretending a smoke could give them the relax they need in between commuting to work, after a night out with coworkers or in a love hotel.
Nevertheless, the government wants to completely forbid smoking in public spaces, restaurants and izakaya within the 2020 Olympic games, without decreasing cigarette’s price but still owning more than 30% of the Japan tobacco shares.
Will people be happier, or healthier?

Photographer: Daniele Martire

Country: Italy and Japan

Bio: Daniele Martire (Italy, 1985) is a full-time project manager who loves design and experiments with photography on the side. He started documenting concerts with a film camera and delves into digital nowadays as well. As an introspective person, he uses photography as an intimate tool to remember faces and places and to express his feelings and visions. He began street photography in Japan, depicting daily life in double exposures. To him, street photography is all about feeling the city, its sounds, scents and lights – the boundaries in between observing and living in the city. He is a co-founder of the superluna collective.