“Memories of Younger Days in Shinjuku” features photographs taken by Koji Onaka between 1982 and 1994. Following Onaka’s graduation from Tokyo College of Photography in ’82, this is the time he spent at Image Shop Camp, living in Shinjuku, working in Shinjuku, drinking in Shinjuku, exhibiting in Shinjuku. Onaka’s photos focus as much on the city itself as on his life in Shinjuku, and throughout the book legends like Daido Moriyama, Masahisa Fukase, Takuma Nakahira and others show up. In “Memories of Younger Days in Shinjuku”, with Onaka looking back at his own youth, he also shares an invaluable look at the bohemian lives of Japan’s foremost photographers at the time.

“Back then, on the streets of Shinjuku, he was there as two people – the dashing, daring Koji and the gloomy Onaka.” —— Daido Moriyama