japan exposures » Cover Photo

Harumichi Saito — From KANDO

Kurt — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:45:52 +0000

Harumichi Saito was born in Tokyo in 1983, and graduated from the Shakujii School for the Deaf in Tokyo in 2004. After being an Honorable Selection by photography critic Kotaro Iizawa in the Canon New Cosmos Photography competition of 2009, he returned to the competition in 2010 and was photographer Masafumi Sanai’s selection for one of four Excellence Awards handed out, for the work from which the above photo is taken.

Saito’s work focuses on people living with disabilities, but his work is not in itself a portrait of disability. As Saito himself commented at the time of his 2010 New Cosmos award, “I was never satisfied with photography that concerns disabilities. They are usually either monochrome photographs that are too austere, or the exact opposite: unnaturally cheerful and full of smiles. I never felt comfortable with this.”

Saito’s work from KANDO has been published in a new book from Akaaka Arts Publishing which is now available in the Japan Exposures bookstore. Please also see our special gallery featuring more of Saito’s KANDO work.

Harumichi Saito Gallery What if these are simply Harumichi Saito's circle of friends...
Toyoko Saito – 手賀沼のほとり (Around Teganuma) This is an exhibition by our friend and close neighbour...
Kazuyasu Matsui Gallery Everyday, in the area of the small town in the...

Shintaro Sato – from Risen in the East series

Dirk — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:44:13 +0000

Shintaro Sato was born in 1969 in Tokyo, and graduated from Tokyo College of Photography in 1992 and Waseda University School of Letters Arts and Sciences in 1995. After working as a staff cameraman for Kyodo News for 7 years, he left there in 2001 and has been a freelance photographer since. In 2008, Sato’s Tokyo Twilight Zone was published by Seigensha to great acclaim, and the next year Sato received the 2009 Newcomer’s Award from the Photographic Society of Japan. The above photo comes from Sato’s most recent work, centering on the Tokyo Sky Tree broadcasting tower soon to be opened in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. This work has been collected into the book Risen in the East, published this month, also by Seigensha. If you’re in the Tokyo area, Photo Gallery International will be exhibiting Sato’s new work from January 13 – February 25.

Please also see an extended gallery of photographs from this new series. In this 2009 Japan Exposures interview, Sato talks about his motivations with the Tokyo Sky Tree series.

Shintaro Sato – Risen in the East Gallery Our friend Shintaro Sato, born and raised in East Tokyo...
Shintaro Sato – from Tokyo Sky Tree series The above photo comes from Sato's current work-in-progress, centering on...
Sato Shintaro – Twilight Zone SATO Shintaro. Born in 1969 in Tokyo. Graduated from Tokyo...

Kazuyasu Matsui – from Paradise☆INGA

Kurt — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:29:30 +0000

Kazuyasu Matsui was born in 1973, and graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography. He has been exhibiting his work since 2007, and last year he was selected by photographer Katsumi Omori as one of his five Honorable Mention selectees of the “New Cosmos of Photography” competition sponsored by Canon Camera for his Paradise☆INGA series, from which the above photo comes.

Please also see our extended gallery of this series.

Kazuyasu Matsui Gallery Everyday, in the area of the small town in the...
Nobuto Osakabe — from Holiday Making Nobuto Osakabe was born in 1984 in Shizuoka Prefecture. In...
Yu Kusanagi — from Snow Yu Kusanagi was born in Akita Prefecture in 1982, and...

Emi Fukuyama — from The Moon, Following Me

Dirk — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:06:38 +0000

Emi Fukuyama was born in Saga Prefecture in 1981, and graduated from Tokyo Visual Arts School in 2006. Since 2008 she ha been a member of Totem Pole Photo Gallery in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Fukuyama’s first photobook, The Moon, Following Me, from which the above photo comes, was published in December by Tosei-sha.

More work from The Moon, Following Me can be seen in a special extended Japan Exposures gallery, and we are also publishing concurrently a review of the photobook.

Emi Fukuyama Gallery When you first see Emi Fukuyama's work, you may ask...
The moon is there, even if I am not looking at it The Moon, Following Me is the debut book from Emi...
Manabu Someya — from Nirai Manabu Someya was born in 1964 in Chiba prefecture. He...

Yu Kusanagi — from Snow

Kurt — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:23:57 +0000

Yu Kusanagi was born in Akita Prefecture in 1982, and graduated from the Tohoku University of Art and Design in 2007. He has been exhibiting his photography since 2003, picking up several awards including one from Konica Minolta in 2003. Most recently, in the Fall of 2010 Kusanagi’s Snow series, from which the above photo comes, was an Honorable Mention selection by photographer Mika Ninagawa for the annual Canon Cosmos of Photography competition.

More work from Snow can be seen in a special extended Japan Exposures gallery.

Yu Kusanagi Gallery Yu Kusanagi shows us abundantly beautiful snow. Falling from the...
Kazuyasu Matsui Gallery Everyday, in the area of the small town in the...
Nobuto Osakabe Gallery The images by Nobuto Osakabe show us Japan at play,...

Nobuto Osakabe — from Holiday Making

Kurt — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:44:56 +0000

Nobuto Osakabe was born in 1984 in Shizuoka Prefecture. In 2003 he entered Tokyo Polytechnic University, graduating in 2007 and winning the university’s Fox Talbot Award in 2006. Since finishing his education Osakabe has been working as a commercial photographer while pursuing his own personal work, with exhibitions at Nikon Salon in 2007 and Konica Minolta Gallery in 2009. This autumn, Osakabe’s Holiday Making series, from which the above photo comes, was an Honorable Mention selection by photography critic Minoru Shimizu for the annual Canon Cosmos of Photography competition.

More work from Holiday Making can be seen in a special extended Japan Exposures gallery.

Nobuto Osakabe Gallery The images by Nobuto Osakabe show us Japan at play,...
Yu Kusanagi — from Snow Yu Kusanagi was born in Akita Prefecture in 1982, and...
Kazuyasu Matsui – from Paradise☆INGA Kazuyasu Matsui was born in 1973, and graduated from the...

Kazuyoshi Usui — from Bullet Boy

Kurt — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:51:53 +0000

Kazuyoshi Usui is a Tokyo-based photographer born in 1975, and once studied under Eikoh Hosoe at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He makes his living as a commercial photographer. In his personal work he’s interested in exploring the borders between lies and truth, particularly in a cinematic way. In 2006 he published “Macaroni Christian”, and is currently at work on a series entitled “Bullet Boy”, of which the above photograph is part of.

Mitsuru Fujita – from Zaisyo Mitsuru Fujita was born in Tokyo in 1934. He quit...
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Coverage If you haven’t visited photographer Alec Soth’s new weblog yet,...

Manabu Someya — from Nirai

Dirk — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:57:06 +0000

Manabu Someya was born in 1964 in Chiba prefecture. He graduated from Nihon University College of Art majoring in photography. He is concentrating his view on Asia and Okinawa and in his work he attempts a perspective on life and death.

Please see our review of Nirai, Someya’s photo book published by Tosei-sha, as well as an extended gallery drawn from the series.

Signed copies of Nirai are available for purchase in the Japan Exposures Bookstore.

Life Within Death – Nirai by Manabu Someya “You shall go on a beautiful boat.” – Farewell to...
Manabu Someya Gallery Japan Exposures is pleased to present a gallery of work...
Manabu Yamanaka Gallery Manabu Yamanaka's Gyahtei, published earlier this Fall, brings together Yamanaka's...

Mitsuru Fujita – from Zaisyo

Kurt — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:27:40 +0000

Mitsuru Fujita was born in Tokyo in 1934. He quit a job in advertising to become a freelance photographer in 1961, eventually setting up his own commercial photo agency called Fujitaman in 1966 which he would run for over 40 years. During this time he also taught photography part time at Tokyo College of Photography and at Musashino Art University. Fujita closed Fujitaman in 2007 to concentrate on his personal work.

The above image, taken in 2006 in Nara Prefecture, is from Fujita’s body of 11 x 14 landscape work shot mostly between 2000 and 2009, and collected in Zaisyo, a handsome book published earlier this year.

Please also see our book review of Zaisyo, as well as an extended gallery of images from the series. Signed copies of the book itself are available in the Japan Exposures Bookstore.

Mitsuru Fujita Gallery The collection of scenes that Mitsuru Fujita has assembled into...
The Built-Up Country, in Detail — Zaisyo Zaisyo, published by Tosei-sha in May of this year, presents...

Tamotsu Kido – White Horse

Dirk — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:15:34 +0000

Tamotsu Kido was born in 1974 in Mie Prefecture. He studied oil painting at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Despite the lack of a formal course in photography at the university, Kido soon transitioned to producing photographs instead of paintings under the guidance of the artist Nobuya Hitsuda.

Kido’s photographs explore the idea of symmetry in natural objects, such as landscapes and most recently the bodies of animals. His work was shown at Galerie Tokyo Humanité during August 2010.

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