"Merry" is the brainchild of author and art director Koji Mizutani, who got the idea for the Project in the spring of 1999 while visiting America. Mizutani happened to notice a trio of young girls laughing as they sat near him on the bus he was riding on. Mizutani was struck by the innocent, care free nature the girls displayed, and proceeded to click of an entire roll of film. To Mizutani the girls' brought forth a vision of a happier more positive time.

Indeed, Mizutani's photographs themselves seem to have an ability to express a wonderful positive message. "Thus, while the term 'end of the century' often conjures up dark apocalyptic images, the 'Merry' pictures add a decidedly fun, and positive accent to the final days of this century" (Brain Magazine, Dec. 1999). The strange power that Mizutani's pictures seem to have has been captured in his book "Merry", which features a collection of his photographs.

"In English 'merry' can be used to express 'fun' and 'happiness'. But I tend to like to see 'merry' more as a general term to mean - Forward looking and fun" (Koji Mizutani, Mainichi Newspaper; Jan 13, 2000).

From the start Mizutani had an idea of how he wanted to lay out his "Merry" book; thick pages displaying a photograph on each page, which can be folded out end to end to display the photographs in the order in which they were taken. His book "Owaranai Merry-go-round" (The Never-ending Merry-go-round) was published on November 30, 1999 by INFAS. However, the growth of the "Merry" phenomenon did not end with the publication of the book described above. Staff at Laforet Harujuku had been interested in the concept of "Merry" for some time, and from January 1-14, 2000 the entire Laforet building was given over to the "Merry at Laforet 2000 Exhibition". Holding an exhibition of this scale at such a renown venue was undoubtedly responsible for pushing "Merry" on to the next stage.

Before exhibiting at Laforet, Mizutani wanted to try and bring the exhibition to life. For as the artist explains, "Does just hanging photographs on a wall at an exhibition truely allow the viewer to empathize with the subject featured? Perhaps it is necessary to remove photographs even further from the manner in which they are displayed in a book when presenting them at an exhibition" (Koji Mizutani, Brain Magazine). Thus Mizutani established two objectives for his exhibition; to try to bring his photographs to life, and to allow people visiting the exhibition to actually become part of it.
Each day Mizutani roamed the streets of Harujuku with his digital camera, taking photographs of the smiling faces of thousands of young women, and asking them to write a few words about their dreams and hopes. Mizutani then selected several hundred of the photographs to be displayed in the Laforet Museum on the 6th floor of Laforet Harajuku. During the exhibition, Mizutani set about photographing people inside the Laforet complex and asked them to write down what makes them 'merry'. He then displayed their photographs and comments in poster sized format inside the Laforet building, literally making them part of the show.

"Photography is essentially a form of communication, and it's the photographer's job
to make sure this communication takes place. This is why I've tried to create an atmosphere in which people can actually get a better feel for the person behind the smiling images in my photographs" (Koji Mizutani; Asahi Camera, Jan, 2000).

Over 30,000 people visited the exhibition in the Laforet Museum, and many thousands more were introduced to the world of "Merry" through a variety of projects that Mizutani collaborated on with other artists.From April 4 to 7, 2000 "Merry at Epson 2000" was held at the Shinjuku Epson Exhibition Hall, and in May of the same year "Merry" went international with "Merry at New York 2000", in Chelsea, New York which was part of "Tokyo Street 2000" (an event organized by Takarashimasha to introduce Tokyo culture to New Yorkers). In spring 2001, "Merry at Selfridges 2001" will be a central part of the "Tokyo Life" exhibition at Selfridges Department Store in London, which is part of England's "Japan Year" celebrations. However, before "Merry" makes its way to London, Laforet Harajuku will play host to "Merry at Laforet 2001".

As more and more "Merry" exhibitions are planned, one gets the feeling that the "Merry" message will continue to spread around the globe.