Here is my list of 10 great Japanese photo books. The list is unordered and does not represent necessarily the greatest photo books there are. Japanese photography is amazing because it’s so diverse; all genres are so strongly represented. Myself I like certain kind of photography, so I wanted to choose the ones that I love most.
Hotaru (Firefly)
Mizoguchi Yoshio
Kamaitachi
Hosoe Eikoh
Baby Baby
Kawashima Kotori
Satchin
Araki
Farewell Photography
Moriyama Daido
Nadia
Sawatari Hajime
Looking for Forest
Hayashida Setsuko
Nadya’s Village
Motohashi Seiichi
Degree Zero
Nakahira Takuma
Love and Death
Araki
Notes:
- Although I like Miraichan by Kawashima Kotori and it’s important photo book I like Baby Baby even more . It’s lesser known, so it deserves a mention.
- I simply cannot mention Araki without mentioning both Love and Death and Satchin since both are his signature work.
- Hayashida Setsuko’s photo book “Looking for Forest 「森をさがす」of my hometown is a fantastic photo book.
- Although Moriyama Daido has published several important photo books I felt Farewell Photography is his strongest work.
