In 1994, at the age of 19, Masaru first visited Tōhoku, one of the most remote, breathtakingly beautiful regions of Japan. The place stayed with him throughout his life, and in 2006 he returned to photograph the region “from the viewpoint of the people of the ancient land.” He followed deer hunters, met a group of brothers who still used primitive spear-fishing methods to catch swordfish, and became friendly with a nearly blind shaman who claimed she could hear the voices of the dead. After the devastating earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the tsunamis and nuclear meltdowns that followed, much of what Masaru had photographed in Tōhoku was destroyed or drastically changed forever (the epicenter of the quake was less than 50 miles away from the area). Over the course of the last year he has returned many times to document the still ancient-seeming place.
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