PROFILE

I was born on September 2, 1957, in Kanagawa Prefecture, next to Tokyo. I am a photographer, now 67 years old.
As a child I was frail and often in and out of hospital, yet I was somehow allowed to move up through school, and went on to the Department of Photography at Nihon University College of Art. After graduating at 22, I worked until the age of 30 at a photo studio then known as “the finest in the East,” where I learned the first-class techniques and sensibility of photography that supported Japan’s economic growth.
The reason I can trust my own sensibility today is the foundation I learned from my mentor there. My mentor and I often photographed the same subject with the same camera and the same lens, with the same aperture, exposure and other settings.
The difference lay in awareness: “What draws me to this subject, and what do I want to capture?” The instant something happens, the subject’s charm shines — catching that moment without letting it slip. That is the essence of photography, and it has become my creed.
At 30 I became independent, and my real learning began. Everyone has their own charm, and each person’s gestures reveal their life. From the people I photographed, I learned a great deal without a word being spoken. Companies taught me about society, and advertising taught me the laws of what draws people in.
After I turned 40, I was gradually given the freedom to express my own sensibility, and before I knew it, more than twenty years have passed. Even now, while learning from the commissioned work I have continued since going independent, I face subjects such as nature, people, culture, crafts and cuisine, and keep interpreting them through my own sensibility.
For me, photography is not simply recording a subject. It is sensing the air of a place and exploring how the light falling there reveals the inner nature of the subject. I hope to remain someone who keeps absorbing the many encounters still to come.
April 2025　Bungo

1980　Graduated from the Department of Photography, Nihon University College of Art
Member, Japan Advertising Photographers’ Association
Member, Kyoto Art Photographers Association
Exclusive photographer, Tsubaki Grand Shrine, Ichinomiya of Ise Province
Official photographer, Japan Masters Swimming Association
Official photographer, Obaku Baisa-ryu school of Sencha tea
Official photographer, Special Heian Sanga
Head judge, Tsubaki Grand Shrine Photo Contest, Ichinomiya of Ise Province
Founder, Kokoromi Project
2020　Photographed the Ryugi rite at Yakushiji Temple, held for the first time in 10 years
2021　Documented the late painter Morio Matsui at work on a large-scale painting
2022　Photographed the centennial ceremony of the Empress Shoken Fund
2022　Agency for Cultural Affairs project “The Arita”
2023　Agency for Cultural Affairs projects “Kazumi Murose” and “Gion Festival”

Awards

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival — Shortlist
Mainichi Advertising Design Award — Grand Prix
New York ADC Awards — multiple awards
Newsweek — Corporate Advertising Award
Asahi Advertising Design Award — Selected
Kodansha Readers’ Choice Advertising Award — Silver
WICI Japan 2018 — Encouragement Award
Japan Calendar Association Award — Insatsu Jiho Award
Japan Advertising Photographers’ Association Awards — Advertising category, multiple awards
The12 Times Asia-Pacific Advertising Awards
The Mobius Advertising Awards
Kyoto Contemporary Photographers Exhibition, Kyoto Biennale 2023 — Selected

Personal Activities

Since 2001, has organized the “Aozora (Open Sky) Photo Exhibition,” held every November with the support of Suginami City
“Dream Story Making,” in which elementary and high school students create stories inspired by photographs
(Tochigi Prefectural Ujiie High School; Seki Elementary School, Yoshikawa City, Saitama)

Achievements

2013–　Cooperation with the Japan Tourism Agency project to discover, rebuild and strengthen attractive tourist destinations
2016　Photography for the Kyotango City regional policy book on research, surveys and seminar camps
2017　Oshima Shipbuilding PR video / 1,220 × 25,000 mm wall panels “People of High Aspiration”
2017　Omuta City promotional video “Switch On” — planning and photography