Join us for Ryuichi Hirokawa’s insightful talk and documentarty screening. A prolific photojournalist and humanitatiran Hirokawa has been devoted to covering the truth. This event follows his life and work from Palestine, to Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Kumejima island in Okinawa.
Ryuichi Hirokawa started working as a journalist in 1967 in Israel and Palestine. In 1982, he photographed the tragic massacre that occurred in the Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon. In 1989, as the first western journalist he documented the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant meltdown. He refers to this place where all human dignity is taken away as a “human battlefield.”
His career is not only as a photojournalist. He established organizations for the care of children, namely the “Japanese Committee for the Children of Palestine” and “Chernobyl Children’s Fund”. He also built a recreation center called “Kumi no Sato” in Kumejima island in Okinawa for the recovery of children affected by the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in 2011. In 2014, he resigned as the editor-in-chief of a photo journal “DAYS JAPAN” after 10 year position.
Hirokawa’s life is devoted to covering the truth. This documentary follows his life from Palestine, Chernobyl to Fukushima, and Kumejima island in Okinawa.
Directed by Saburo Hasegawa, who won the 1st prize of ‘Kinema Jumpo the Best 10 Cultural Film Award’ and ‘Mainichi Film Contest for the Documentary’ in “ Japan Lies-The Photojournalism of Kikujiro Fukushima, Age 90.” Filmed by Hiroshi Yamazaki, the expert of documentary film, engaged in the films directed by Hirokazu Koreeda or Naomi Kawase.
Ryuichi Hirokawa
1943 Born
1967 Graduated from Waseda University,
1967 – 70 Moved to Israel,
1970 Returned to Japan, continue reporting on the Middle East and Chernobyl nuclear accident etc. as a photo journalist
1982 Reported Sabra and Shatila massacre.
2003 Published and became Chief Editor of the monthly photojournalism magazine, DAYS JAPAN.
2011 Started to report on Fukusima from a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Launched a fund raising campaign to donate radiation measurement instruments and DAYS JAPAN SUPPORT FUND FOR THE CHILDREN OF FUKUSHIMA and in July, established KUMI NO SATO, a recuperation center for the children of Fukushima exposed to radiation in Kume Island, Okinawa.
2014 Retired Chief Editor of the monthly photojournalism magazine DAYS JAPAN and has become the Publisher and a freelance photojournalist.
Lives in Tokyo.
Selected Publications and Prizes
1982 Yomiuri Newspaper Photo Grand Prize for his photos of the Lebanese War and the massacre at the Palestinian refugee camp”
1983 Grand Prize and Gold Prize at the IOJ International Organization of Journalist contest.by photos above.
1989 Kodansha Publication Culture Award, Photography Award for his reports of the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear plant accidents
1993 Sankei News Children’s Book Award for “From ChernobylTeacher Nina and Children”, Shogakukan publishers, 1992
1998 Japan Journalist Congress Special Prize for “The battlefield of Human Beings”, Shinchosha, publishers, 1998
1999 Peace & Cooperative Journalist Fund of Japan Award for his photograph collection “The lost 458 villages of Chernobyl”, Nihon Tosho Centre Co., Ltd.,
2001 Photo City Sagamihara Award also for the above collection
2002 The Waseda Univ. Journalism Award for ”Palestine” : New Edition, Iwanami Shoten, publishers 2002
2003 Photographic Society of Japan, Award of the Year, the 22nd Domon Ken Award for A Photographic Record : Palestine, Nihon Tosho Centre Co., Ltd., 2002 Iwanami Photographic Documentary : From the Battlefields of the world The Victims of the AntiTerror War, Iwanami Shoten publishers
2004 Iwanami Photographic Documentary : From the Battlefields of the WorldWar and Photojournalism, Iwanami Shoten
2008 Puroduced a theater documentary film of “Palestine in 1948: NAKBA” (Japanese, English, French, Arabic versions) commemoration the 60th year after the emergence of Palestine refugees.
2009 Consecutively produced a DVD series (30 volumes in Japanese and English).
2012 Published photo book The Human Battlefield.
2015 The documentary film of him, “RYUICHI HIROKAWA human battlefield” has
been released.
many other works including coauthored books, translations, etc.
[Related Exhibition]
DAYS JAPAN International Photojournalism Awards Exhibition
[Fee]
FREE
[Language]
Japanese