Born in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1985. Lives and works in Yamanashi.
Graduated from the Department of Photography at the Japan College of Journalism , and studied under Masayoshi Motohashi.
Recipient of the Encouragement Prize at the 3rd and 8th Yonosuke Natori Photography Awards, and Winner of the 9th Yonosuke Natori Photography Award.
Honorable Mention, 38th Canon New Cosmos of Photography.
I was suddenly greeted with a casual "How are you?" and instinctively put my hands together and replied, "Sawasdee krap (สวัสดีครับ)." It wasn't much of a conversation, I soon realized. Under the scorching sun, drenched in sweat, I walked from a cheap guesthouse on Khaosan Road, clutching a piece of paper with a scrawled message: "Chinatown hospital. A Muay Thai gym down a small alley."
The book The Tip of the Fist by Mitsuyo Kakuta had stirred a feeling in me—that I was on the verge of a fateful encounter. "We're in Thailand!" And then, we met.
Two years later, we met again—this time in Pattaya. Blending in among the local kids was a Japanese boy named Sora Kawama, training hard in Muay Thai. He was 11 years old at the time, and when asked about it, he bluntly said, "It's not like I even like Muay Thai."
He would get up at 5 a.m. to run and train, and then train again from 3 p.m. Matches came now and then, interrupting the otherwise repetitive days. The intense training and irregularly timed away fights were relentless. For five years, he kept muttering the same words: "I want to go back to Japan." I just kept the camera rolling, quietly following him through it all.
There was nothing sentimental about it. He was simply pouring everything he had into this one thing. He looked desperate.
As a teenager trying to find his way, he gradually earned the recognition and support of those around him.
By then, he had reached a point where walking away was no longer an option.