I knew early on that photography was what I wanted to do.

I started taking photos back in high school after joining the photography club. At first, I was fascinated by cameras themselves—but it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with photography as a medium. After my mom gave me my first camera as a gift, I carried it everywhere. Eventually, I even became the president of my school’s photography club.

After high school, I chose a different path from most of my classmates, who went on to study engineering, law, or medicine. I decided to study photography instead—a choice that my parents weren’t entirely convinced about at first. I spent the next eight years in the United States, learning, photographing, and slowly figuring out how I wanted to see the world.

I later returned to Asia and began working at a TV commercial production company. Not long after, I received an award from the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, which marked an important turning point in my journey. Since then, I’ve been working between Japan and Hong Kong—photographing, filmmaking, and continuing to explore people, places, and stories with curiosity and care.

I’m still carrying a camera most days—though now I try a little harder not to lose the lens cap.