“The more you move, the more information and knowledge you absorb, the more often you encounter surprises in unfamiliar landscapes,” says Taiji Matsue in a conversation with curator Chie Sumiyoshi. “Some say that a photographer’s worldview overflows from within, but that’s a lie,” he continues. “Nothing comes out of the self. You have to keep travelling to places you’ve never been.”

Matsue is a photographer whose technical approach often dominates discussions of his work. It is a natural response to the images he makes; paging through a copy of his book JP-34 in Sankakuyama Books in Kōenji a couple of weeks ago, I found myself asking the same questions. The book presents a series of top-down panoramic views centred on Hiroshima City. Was the artist in a helicopter, flying a hang glider, or even operating a drone?

The photographs render the city almost entirely flat and without shadow. Geometric grids of streets, highways, residential blocks, and industrial zones take on a diagrammatic clarity. The horizon is never visible, directing attention instead to the density of high-resolution detail. If you’ve ever entertained the impossible desire to capture something in its absolute entirety—a whole city, no less—Matsue’s work comes tantalisingly close.