He studied philosophy under Sadayoshi Fukuda at Hosei University in Tokyo. He began photographing in 1969 when the influential editor Shoji Yamagishi showed him photographs by Diane Arbus. Living close to Asakusa in Tokyo, he spent time there and the area became the location for a series of portraits that he has been making for over 40 years. Other subjects include working and residential neighborhoods in Tokyo, and rural and town life in India and Turkey. He has pursued each of these for over two decades. In 2003, the First edition of his book Persona, a collection of Asakusa portraits, won both the Domon Ken Award and Annual Award of the Photographic Society of Japan.