I’ve been attracted by Western Art, but now I’m in sympathy with the thousand-year-old aesthetic in Japanese literary works. When I photograph a women in the nude, I want to represent not only her visual beauty but also something invisible–the ambiance of grace, mystery, sorrow, transience, ambiguity and so on, which surrounds her. “A-wa-re” implies all. That is to say, photographing fine art nudes is the best way for me to express a sense of “a-wa-re.” I think that when women–including myself–take off their clothes, they could express the feelings or emotions in the depth of their hearts better if they could relax. That’s my own opinion. From that point of view, I’ve been conscious of the very Japanese feeling “a-wa-re,” not only when I photograph a woman in the nude, but also when I photograph flowers and landscapes.