While walking on the streets of Tokyo 10 years ago, dancer and choreographer Yuki Aoki encountered a scene that remains indelibly etched into his memory.
A crowd in Shinjuku cheered at a band of young street musicians amid a performance full of swagger and conviction. But just beside the buzz lay a homeless man, ignored and sound asleep, his bare buttocks exposed — oblivious to the excitement nearby.
The strange juxtaposition shocked Aoki, and left him wondering what would have happened if the man, and not the band, had been the focus of the attention.