Did you start this magazine because of the epidemic, or was it an idea that you had accumulated for a long time? As a photographer, why would you think of running a magazine?

I had thought about creating a magazine someday for almost 20 years.
At the end of the summer of 2020, I suddenly noticed I had time, and decided to do it now. 

Experiences of magazines are to be able to see things side by side and compare them. I grew up with this experience, and my career as a photographer started with magazines as well. I wanted to try sharing an experience through the exchanges to create magazine.

Mandela HUDSON "More News from Babylon"『Decades（No.1 2000_20 Issue）』

Time seems to be the key word of this magazine, as it's name "Decades". Could you talk about the origin of the name of this magazine?

The theme of the magazine is to extract blocks of time and their meanings from the units of Millenials (1000 years), centuries (100 years), and decades (10 years). 

The first issue is a photo story taken by 10 photographers including myself, taken in the years 2020 and 2000.

What are the differences between a magazine founder and a photographer? What has been the most difficult transition for you?

Every possible element was different between being a magazine founder and a photographer! 

It was my first time to make a magazine, so I asked my trusted magazine editors and art directors around the same generation as I, who accepted me as a person who was clueless about everything, and we proceeded with everything as we greatly discussed with each other. We both had around 20 years of experience as freelancers. I realized the kind of publication that is created is a reflection of how the person who created it had lived.

And, the experience of receiving manuscripts was wonderful. It's a joy to receive and open the words and photographs of such wonderful artists. It was an invaluable experience that I could never have as a photographer, but it also comes with responsibility.

Seung Woo Back  "DAILY STAMP WORKS"『Decades（No.1 2000_20 Issue）』

In the current first issue of the magazine, most of the 10 photographers you selected are Asian, but there are also some from Europe and the United States. What are your criteria or conditions for choosing a photographer?

I initially wanted to communicate with photographers in areas that I couldn't travel to (as I used to). By having them participate in the magazine, I wanted to have an exchange that wasn't possible online. 

Each of the photographers who contributed to the magazine was connected to me in different ways. Each of them had their own reasons for wanting to have them participate, and there was no single criteria or requirement.

As it was essential that we could publish the magazine by the end of 2020, I am very grateful to everyone who agreed and contributed right away.

In this magazine, you take 20 years as the time interval for each photographer. What has changed in 20 years for you? In the process of editing this magazine, how do you feel about the changes in other photographers' works over time?

I have made a living by taking photographs from my twenties to my forties. 
Many way of thinking have changed in these twenty years.
I enjoyed how the pages laid in a magazine can influence each other's understanding of a photograph in a way of Decades, moving back and forth between the two times. 

SHEN Chao-Liang  "Floating 漂流" 『Decades（No.1 2000_20 Issue）』

In this issue of the magazine, you choose Luo Dan among the photographers in mainland China.
I wonder why you chose him? What appeals to you about Luo Dan's work?

I wanted to invite artists living in China to participate, but I didn't have any personal acquaintances, so I consulted with Ms. Himeno of Akasha, the publisher of "Decades," who showed me Luo Dan's photographs and I was very attracted to them. Each series had a completely different style, and I felt an unfathomable scale. Aya Fujioka also recommended Luo Dan to me.

His open-ended photos of Xinjiang and his essays about his actions leading up to Xinjiang are truly amazing and interesting to read again and again. His words are very honest about various confusions, and even I, a Japanese person from a different environment, can relate to them.

Personally, Xinjiang has always been a place I wanted to visit. I want to go there at the moment when the Hotan River is formed. Since I thought of that, I could have gone anytime if I had tried, but I didn't. When I received Luo Dan's photos of Xinjiang, a place where I can not visit now, I felt a great joy that could be only achieved through the production of the magazine. His photos made me realize once again what a large scale photographer Luo Dan is and how big the Chinese continent is.

In this magazine, you present your latest series, "A New River Flows". The core of this series is the story of your one-year-younger sister K who passed away 13 years ago. We are already very familiar with your previous series KIPUKA, which won the Ihei Kimura Photography Award in 2019. In the new series, you have shifted your attention from the cultural customs and current life of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii to your own inner experience and story. How did your creative shift come about?

In the spring of 2020, I initially intended to photograph cherry blossoms in the evacuation zone in Fukushima as usual. In the past, the evacuation zone was the only "empty cherry blossoms" after the nuclear accident, but this year, cherry blossom viewing spots were closed with their lights turned off everywhere throughout the nation. From Fukushima, heading towards the north, I followed the cherry blossoms in the dark. 

My sisters and friends who passed away during the cherry blossom season were always remembered when I saw the cherry blossoms, but this year I spent a lot of time thinking about them as I headed north and watched the cherry blossoms for much longer.

Jinhee Kim "Finger Play"『Decades（No.1 2000_20 Issue）』

From our conversation earlier, I know that this magazine will appear as an annual issue. Why is it so?

Because that was how I came up with! 

Will the next issue come out at the end of this year (2021)? Could you give us a brief introduction to the general direction of the next issue?

We have decided to publish the next issue at the end of this year. I do have some concrete ideas, but unfortunately, cannot tell you about them yet!
I have no ideas at all for anything after this next issue.

What is the personal impact of the epidemic on you? During this time, in terms of your observations, what is the main impact of the epidemic on photographers as a whole? What would you most like to do if the epidemic ended?

In the spring of 2020, during the two months of the State of Emergency that was declared throughout Japan, I was based in Fukushima and was photographing cherry blossoms in Iwate, Aomori, and other regions in Tohoku. ("A NEW RIVER," bookshop M, 2020)