Photo-eye recently posted their annual “Best Books” feature, with a whole host of photographers and photo people submitting their top 10 books of 2009. Naturally I was interested to see what Japanese books made the grade, but was rather disappointed that on the whole so few Japanese books were chosen. This is I’m sure due in large... 

Manabu Yamanaka’s Gyahtei, published earlier this Fall, brings together Yamanaka’s six major series focusing on societal outcasts, including street children, homeless, the physically deformed, and the elderly. Working in a similar vein for over 25 years, each series might take up to four to five years to complete. Yamanaka doesn’t... 

Manabu Yamanaka was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1959, and moved to Tokyo when he was 23 to pursue a career in commercial photography. Amidst the dizzying frenzy of the “bubble” years, in 1989 Yamanaka released Arakan, portraits of Tokyo homeless, which would mark the first of a career-spanning, 25-plus year body of portraits and still lives... 

2005 interview with Manabu Yamanaka, whose work has just been published in the book Gyahtei. (Via) Tweet...