The Distance behind Alienation: Take Tokyo Images for Example

Taking as its breakthrough point the individual’s subjective perception of the distance between the discrete loci in one space, this paper analyzes how the movements of figures have been shaped in three typical periods from Tokyo, as a city imagery; and accordingly argues for the concrete effect of the distance-representing patterns followed by the individuals, who are under different environmental circumstances, on the interactions between movement and space. Considering the linear development of modern Tokyo as the basic clue, this paper sequentially explores the phenomenon of which restriction to human activities brought about by the measurement materials in and out of Tokyo influences the behavioral inertia of the residents therein, the cause of the split in environmental state of the inner regions within Tokyo at a level of the distance structure, the specific mechanism that the distance-representing pattern matters the agent, and the respective principles as this pattern assimilates or alienates a movement habit. Meanwhile, this paper tries to theorize the conception around the distance-representing into a fundamental methodology on the image narrative, and further deduct how one guides the tragedy form, the characteristic rhythm, and the idiosyncratic expression of those events in the image.