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"Every photograph is a historical record."
I was in my final year of high school when I discovered photography. Because I'd always wanted to be a sailor, I'd planned to take the entrance examination for a maritime college. But when I received the application form, I discovered there was a height requirement and I was 1.5 cm too short.
At the time, a friend's brother was studying photography at the Nihon University College of Art. Although I wasn't really keen on photography at first, when I met him and listened to what he had to say, I began to get interested in the subject. In the end, that's where I went to study - and I studied really hard. I took photos constantly for a year with the first camera I ever bought, an Olympus 35IVb. That marked my first step as a photographer.
The year I graduated from university happened to be the same year that Fuji Television began broadcasting. Many of my friends took jobs at television companies, but I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my future. At the time, Professor Yoshio Watanabe was teaching courses in architectural photography and photojournalism at Nihon University. I respected him greatly, so after graduation, I stayed on and studied for another two years while working as his research assistant. Later, I became a freelance photographer and worked on reports for weekly magazines. I was, of course, influenced by Professor Watanabe, but I found that I thoroughly enjoyed being a photojournalist. I recognized then that every photograph is a historical record, and I've believed that ever since.
Later on, I moved over to monthly magazines. It was also around then that I helped form the Roku no Kai (Club of Six) with five friends from Nihon University, including Keisuke Kumakiri and Koichi Saito. In those days we were all incredibly busy. At some point we were asked to assist with the establishment of a new magazine called Edokko (Tokyo born and bred). Since five of the six members of Roku no Kai were, in fact, born and bred in downtown Tokyo, it was the perfect project for us.
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