JAPAN-GO-ROUND

Humans are made alive by nature. Nature keeps beautiful by human touch. "JAPAN-GO-ROUND" captured landscapes of nature touched by human in Japan.

My lifework project "JAPAN-GO-ROUND" captured landscapes of nature touched by human. Even if it looks like untouched wild nature at a glance, there are always human communities near by. In other words, I'm not taking any adventure at all to photograph these scenery. I'm just visiting and taking a look into communities in rural areas of all across Japan.

I've been having short trips from Tokyo to various rural areas since 2013, and I always end up with finding the essence of how we live. It is because there still exist traditional land use that have evolved from local communities' long-term efforts to adapt to their surrounding environments and enjoy their bounties in a sustainable manner.

Satoyama (landscapes) and Satoumi (seascapes) are the Japanese names for these sustainable human-influenced natural environments. Since current global trends have highlighted efficiency and convenience in capitalism, I've started this project to reconsider the importance of Satoyama and Satoumi. There may be another clue for better life globaly in such sustainable human-influenced natural environments in Japan.