The 1982 photobook “Dear Old Days” by Japanese photographer Ryoji Akiyama will soon be available as a reprint published by Seisodo.

For the series, a young Ryoji Akiyama visited China – coinciding with the ten year anniversary of the normalization of Chinese-Japanese relations – and photographed Chinese children in various parts of the country. Akiyama portrayed the children within the boundaries of play to capture them from an intimate distance. The book is a stellar example of Akiyama’s sharp observation and photographic sensibilities.