Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Tokyo. Just outside of the centre.

When did you start using a camera?
I always had a point'n shoot whenever we would go on family trips.
When I took photography classes at college I really started to love it. Then when I was around 19-20 I started working as an assistant to a photographer at a magazine company called Magazine House in Tokyo. They own a lot of magazines and I worked at one called BRUTUS.

Are you influenced by Japanese photographers like Daido Moriyama, Takashi Homma or Nobuyoshi Araki ?
Not really. I was really inspired by William Klein, Bruce Davidson and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
I like the distance and relationship between camera and people.
Their pictures made me want to be there.

What was happening in New York then ?
It was all new to me but skateboarding really caught my heart. Skaters looked so free and cool.
There was a good street culture in 90's.

How did you get involved in skateboarding ?
When I first visited NYC in 1996, I took a photo of a skater at Astor Place on my last night. It was Quim Cardona. 6 months later I came back to NYC again and stayed for several months. I was staying on Avenue B and 3rd street.

I started going to watch skateboarding at the Brooklyn Banks and Washington Square.

Then I met Steve Rodriguez. Slowly I started hanging out with skaters every weekend.
Guys like Steve Rodriguez, Mark Nardelli, Sean Kelling, Rodney Torres, Alex Corporan, Jon Carter, Jay Maldonado, Quim Cardona, Peter Bici, Tino and Mark Razo, Harold Hunter, Rb.

So many more. I just started shooting photos with anyone who was around.

I hung out at the Brooklyn Banks a lot, on the wall. People used to do tricks over that small wall all the time. We would just sit there and hang out. It was like another way to skate that bank.

What prompted you to go to New York ?
The energy from there! A mix of a lot of different people and culture.

Is it a different energy to Tokyo ?
It was a whole different world. It was original! The world I always dreamed of was in New York.

What were your first impressions of New York ?
Scary! - I had heard a lot of bad things happened in New York, but that changed after spending a few days there.

And how did you find it as a female in that scene ?
I just tried to be a part of them.

How did the Mag Minute photos in Transworld happen ?
One day Rodney Torres took me to Ted Newsome's apartment in Chelsea.
Ted worked for Transworld and I showed him my photos. He picked some of them. Next month, I saw my photos in the magazine... There were 5 photos as I remember. Quim Cardona - Switch Ollie , Steve Rodriguez, Tino Razo, Pat Smith and Ben Liversedge.

When you look back at your photos from the New York in the 90's what do you see ?

Its real street scene,culture and life style for me. It made me want to be there all the time. I think if I hadn't of been in New York I wouldn't have taken skate photos for long.

Did you teach yourself to shoot action/skateboard photos? How hard was that for someone who hadn't originally skated ?
I didn't know anything about the tricks. I found skateboarding through the culture and originally just shot the lifestyle. After awhile I started taking pictures of skating. I probably have a different way to see skateboarding than skaters. I opened up to skateboard magazines and video's which slowly taught me about the tricks

What are you interested in photographing now ?

Im always into documenting culture. I have been photographing a lot of people interacting with nature, surfers and whatnot... more than street culture of late. Just trying to be around what I love ...

* Special thanks to www.yurishibuya.com, Max Creasy, Elksa Sandor