MA: The animal? Can you tell me more? Why panda?
KJ : In my childhood, the biggest news in was the arrival of the first panda from China to Japan in Ueno Zoo. Panda was a special existence in our society, because it was an animal but only to be found in the zoo and not in nature in our country. The form of the panda is round and black and white beaming off a cute vibe, but when you look at it from the side, it’s a little different. There is also an element of bears, and a little scary. I like these aspects of discovery about this animal, also its special existence. I very much like the works of Gary Winogrand’s “The animals” which photographed the animals in the central park in NY. Instead of going into the wild to take photographs of panda, I focused on panda within human world, and our relationship with them – going to places like Panda Research Institute in Sichuan Province in China. I took photographs with films, which I loved, but it proved to be challenging sometimes, as I could miss the critical moment when I need to change films

MA: Can you talk about how your style have changed to what it is now, especially in regards to what you are showing at ”Reflection – 11/3/11” at The Rencontres d’Arles (The International Photography Festival in Arles) this year?
KJ : Yes. I photographed Fukushima not because I wanted to photograph it in the first place, but because it was the place where I was born, and the triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident happened to us. But at the same time, initially, because I am from there, I didn’t want to take too many pictures of Fukushima. It felt immoral to take pictures of my hometown, when it wasn’t in such a good state, so it was hard, but when I got home, I couldn’t help but point my camera at it because of that situation. I was a bit torn between these contradictory feelings I get when I photographed. But something inside me changed when I started to see the contaminated substances with radioactivity that were packed in the flexible container bags which started to appear in my hometown around 2014, three years after the disaster. This was the first time, I felt that I visualized something called the radioactivity as a form of response to this disaster. That was very ironic. I started to archive the accumulation of these bags in the temporary storage spaces. New bags arrive, and then they are removed to go to different temporary storage spaces in other locations. In capturing the situation of Fukushima, I couldn’t just photograph this once, I need to continuously observe the changes to establish it as work. I also felt that I need to not only focus on the changes of the temporary storage spaces but also on the changes of the people of Fukushima – their growth, and the time that passes through them. So, I continue these works in parallel.

MA: How do you take these photos.
KJ : As for the radioactive flexible container bags, I wanted to capture the flow of how many of them are left over and how much is gone. It’s a big space, so it’s hard to capture this from the side. The changes are easiest to see when photographed from above, so since 2014 I have been climbing mountains and using drones to carry out regular observations from a fixed point since 2014. When it comes to the portraits of the people, I first started taking pictures of them in May of 2011 with films by using GX645AF Professional. And because this is also an attempt to capture the transitions of people over time, I wanted to continue with the same method. In comparison to other brands of cameras which are 645, when taking pictures with films, Fuji GX645AF Professional was substantially better in depiction. Body of the camera is made by FUJIFILM, and the lens by Hasselblad. Hasselblad is also making the same model with the same lens and function, but GX645AF Professional was more affordable. Also, the body of FUJIFILM also suit me well. Even after they discontinued its production in 2010, and I needed some replacement parts, I continued to source them through the vintage markets. I’m currently moving towards the GFX system as film is expensive and vintage cameras are very hard to come by. I use the GFX50S II and the GX645AF Professional both at the moment, as digital cameras tend to capture too much detail for my projects.

MA: What other subjects are you interested in taking in the future?
KJ : I am more and more interested in the archival elements of photography. I continue with the archives of the temporary storage space, and the people, of course. But besides them, I am working on the trees. The trees in the mountain, as well as the trees in our daily life as wood materials. In Fukushima, the decontamination of radioactive materials in the soils of residential and commercial areas has been a big project. But the forests have been left out from its scope, so the radioactivity in the forest is quite high when measured. Every time, I go out to take photographs, I measure the radioactivity with a Geiger counter. It is quite striking to know the difference in the radioactivity between the field that is decontaminated and the forest that is right behind it. Interesting thing is that the trees do not absorb much radiation. So, the trees with low dosage have already been cut and shipped to be used as timber in the industrial, commercial and artisanal productions. Iitate Village in Fukushima is especially known tohave rich forest, and I want to record this whole process and flow there, including the photographs and the dosage record.

MA: It’s interesting that you take this as a record. In terms of how things in nature are treated socially, and the distance between nature and humans, I feel that there is something consistent with the first panda project.
KJ : The mountains had not been decontaminated. I wonder what will happen in the future. Including our anxiety. That’s what I’d like to address