“Stay Unfinished.”

That's the idea behind my monthly zine project.

Photos in a photobook usually carry a clear intention. By the time they're published, they've already been carefully selected and assigned meaning by the photographer.

A zine is different.

To me, a zine is more like a mixtape. It's allowed to be unfinished. It's a place for photographs that haven't yet settled into their final meaning—even for me.

By sharing those unfinished photographs with other people, and sometimes talking about them together, I believe their meaning can continue to grow.

That's what this monthly project is all about.

And this month, I made another unfinished zine. This time, it's a negative zine: DARKROOM IN USE VOL.O5.

Only Available until July 5th

Negatives Are Full of Possibility.

In film photography, a negative isn't the finished image. It's possibility.

A single negative can become countless different photographs depending on how it's printed. And after developing a roll of film, the very first thing you see isn't the final photograph—it's the negative itself.

If you've ever shot film, you've probably held a strip of negatives up to the light just to see what was captured.

That simple moment became the starting point for this zine.
I wanted to recreate that experience for you.

This zine contains 24 negatives (48 pages), all printed on translucent tracing paper.
The translucent pages make it feel surprisingly close to holding real film negatives in your hands.

You Complete It.

Whenever I develop film, I often use my iPhone's color inversion feature to quickly preview the negatives as positive images. If scanning your film or making contact sheets feels like too much work, give this a try.

On iPhone, go to:
Settings → Accessibility → Accessibility Shortcut → Classic Invert

Once it's enabled, you can simply triple-click the Side Button (or Home Button) to toggle color inversion on and off.

I hope you'll experience this zine the same way.

Enjoy it as a collection of negatives—but also try viewing it through your phone with color inversion turned on and discover the positive images hidden inside.

This Month's Darkroom Print

As always, every monthly zine includes one of my original hand-printed darkroom prints.
This month's print is "Woman in Fishnets," printed on fiber paper.

It's a print that really lets the grain of the film shine through, and I'm excited for you to experience it in person.

Every purchase helps me keep shooting film and making projects like this.

It also directly supports FAR EAST DARKROOM (FED), the independent platform I run. One thing that's important to me is how FED works with photographers.

Instead of taking zines on commission like most bookstores, I usually purchase them outright.
That means photographers don't have to worry about unsold inventory, and they receive payment upfront—money they can immediately put toward making their next zine.

Supporting this monthly project doesn't just support my work. It also helps create opportunities for other photographers.

This edition is available only until July 5 (JST). After that, it won't be reprinted.

If you'd like to own a copy, now's your chance.

Thank you, as always, for supporting what I do.
I truly couldn't keep making these projects without you.

See you next time.

Missed my latest videos? Here they are.

Have you been watching my YouTube channel? Here are my latest uploads.

June 18
Who Said Your Photos Need to Fit One Frame?

June 9
Audrey Spent a Year Photographing Tokyo's Underground. Here's What She Found.

May 28
She Can't Photograph This Shinjuku Anymore.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

On our phone screens, photographs are often consumed as images. We look at them for a few seconds, swipe, and move on. Another image appears, and before we know it, we've forgotten the one we just saw.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But every once in a while, I come across a zine that completely changes the way I think about photography.

Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka was one of those zines.

Reconstructing Photography Through Cyanotype

This zine features portraits of rappers photographed in New York during the 1990s and 2000s. However, these photographs are not presented simply as an archive of the past.

Using the cyanotype process (*1), Atsuko Tanaka transforms these images into something entirely new.

Images fixed by sunlight, unpredictable variations in tone and texture, and unique imperfections created through chance all become part of the work itself.

Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka

These qualities don't aim to reproduce the photographs as accurately as possible. Instead, they alter the meaning and emotional impact of the original images. What once functioned primarily as documentation becomes something else entirely: a physical object with its own presence and character.

When I held this zine in my hands, I found myself thinking, this zine is reconstructing photography.

*1: Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that uses iron-based light-sensitive chemicals and sunlight to produce vivid blue images on paper, fabric, and other materials.

Rethinking Photography as an Object

The appeal of cyanotype goes far beyond its distinctive blue color.

The uneven application of chemicals, the texture of the paper, and the subtle differences created by sunlight all contribute to the viewing experience. Even when using the same negative, no two cyanotype prints are ever exactly alike.

There is a trace of the maker's hand in each one, almost like visible brushstrokes in a painting.

Photography is often treated as an industrial medium. We take photographs, reproduce them, and share them widely. Cyanotype, however, pulls photography back into the realm of objects.

That physicality is what makes this zine feel so singular.

The moment we stop treating photographs solely as images and begin approaching them as objects, both our photographs and our zines can become something much more personal and distinctive.

Zines as a Medium for Reconstructing Photography

So what does it actually mean to reconstruct photography as an object?

Maybe it looks like the slight misregistration of Risograph printing. Maybe it's the dodging and burning found in darkroom prints. Maybe it's the evidence of experimentation revealed through contact sheets. Or perhaps it's the experience created through the choice of paper, size, and format.

For photographers working primarily with digital files today, expressing photographs through physical media can already be considered a form of reconstruction.

Simply placing photographs side by side in a zine doesn't fully explore the possibilities of the medium. The real potential lies elsewhere.

How will it be printed? How will it be bound? In what sequence will the photographs appear? What kind of layout best supports the work?

Through these decisions, photographs begin to take on new meanings.

Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka

And these experiments don't have to be polished. In fact, I think zines work best as spaces for experimentation. Unlike photobooks, zines allow room for rough edges, unfinished ideas, and creative risks.

It's okay if you don't have all the answers yet. It's okay if traces of uncertainty remain within the work. Sometimes it's precisely that incompleteness that captures the atmosphere of a particular moment, the urgency of an idea, or the photographer's genuine passion.

If photobooks represent one possible destination, perhaps zines are a medium for carrying the photographer's own questions, experiments and discoveries.

Photography doesn't end when the shutter clicks. There are countless possibilities waiting beyond that moment. That's exactly why I hope you'll consider making your own zine — not simply as a container for photographs, but as a medium for reconstructing them.

Featured Zine: Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka

Boom Bap Echoes reimagines portraits of rappers photographed in New York during the 1990s and 2000s through the cyanotype process. Memories from hip-hop's golden age emerge once again in an entirely new form.

More than a record of the past, this zine invites us to reconsider what photography can become when transformed into a physical object.

Limited copies are now available through FAR EAST DARKROOM. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Personal Notes

Thank you, as always, for reading this newsletter.

I originally planned to send these out every Tuesday, but lately I've been juggling more than I can comfortably manage: making new zines, working on new photo projects, producing YouTube videos, and trying to keep everything moving forward at the same time. As a result, these newsletters have become a bit more irregular than I intended.

And honestly, creative work can be a lonely process. I haven't seen many friends recently, so I'm starting to miss spending time with people who share this same passion for photography.

Starting June 22, I'll be exhibiting once again at TOKYO STREETS X in Shinjuku. After the exhibition, I'll probably be wandering around Shinjuku with my camera almost every day.

So if you'd like to join me for a photowalk, please come by and say hello.
I'll share more details about the exhibition on Instagram soon.

Until next time,
Yusuke N

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Hi friends,

Have you ever heard of a bookbinding method called Coptic stitch binding?

When you open a Coptic stitch bound book, it stays open on its own.

Not “stays open if you hold it down.” 
The pages lie completely flat, the spine naturally relaxed, no need to press anything with your hands. The book simply stays there, quietly open, waiting for you..

🔗 Links of the Week

YouTube: She Can't Photograph This Shinjuku Anymore.
An interview with female photographer Alice.

YouTube: Night Photography in Tokyo & Osaka (VHS Style)
The video I shared last week got removed, so I re-edited and reuploaded it.

A Photobook That Fully Opens

The other day, I received a copy of BLIPS VOL.02 by Korean photographer Min Seonhong. Even though it’s self-published, this is no longer something I’d simply call a zine. It deserves to be called a true photobook.

Seeing the beauty of BLIPS VOL.02, crafted with Coptic stitch binding and reinforced with glue for extra durability, I genuinely felt happy to have come across such a special book.

With perfect binding, a full spread image often disappears into the gutter at the center of the book.
But despite BLIPS VOL.02 being a massive 184-page photobook, every single page opens completely flat at 180 degrees.

That means even large photographs printed across two pages can actually be viewed properly, without losing the center of the image.

One of the Oldest Bookbinding Techniques Still Alive Today

Coptic stitch binding is considered one of the oldest bookbinding techniques still in use today.

“Coptic” refers to ancient Egyptian Christians, and this binding style is believed to date back to around the 3rd or 4th century.
In other words, this technique existed more than a thousand years before modern glued paperbacks.

Pages are gathered into small sections called signatures, then sewn together with exposed thread along the spine. There’s no hidden spine covering it up. The stitching itself becomes part of the design.

As a result, the book opens completely flat and stays that way.

You don’t need to hold the book open with both hands. You can simply place it on a table, pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee, and slowly turn the pages one by one.

Honestly, it’s one of the best photobook experiences you can have.

A Book That Feels Like Someone Else’s Memory Becoming Your Own

This BLIPS VOL.02 is composed of photographs taken around the coastal towns of Zushi and Hayama, just outside Tokyo.

While the previous BLIPS VOL.01 consisted entirely of black-and-white photographs of Tokyo streets, this new volume introduces many color photos. Combined with the soft matte paper stock, I feel the book beautifully captures the unique colors and atmosphere of Japan’s quieter suburban coastal towns.

Even though I’ve never personally seen these exact landscapes myself, looking through BLIPS VOL.02 somehow makes me feel nostalgic, as if these scenes were part of my own memories.

This is the kind of photobook that awakens memories you never knew you had.

Blips Vol. 02 is now available at FAR EAST DARKROOM.
Stock is limited.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

To everyone who already ordered my new zine “DARKROOM IN USE,” thank you so much.

Little by little, copies have been arriving in different countries around the world, and seeing everyone shout it out on social media honestly means a lot to me.

Instagram post

These kinds of shoutouts are a huge motivation for me, so please keep tagging me whenever your copy arrives. I really love seeing them!

A new BTS-style video from DARKROOM IN USE is now on YouTube.

Also, I just uploaded a behind-the-scenes style video for DARKROOM IN USE on YouTube. Maybe because the video is a bit sensitive, it doesn’t seem like the algorithm is really picking it up, so if you’re reading this newsletter, I’d really appreciate it if you checked it out below.

👉️ WATCH THE VIDEO NOW

This time, I also tried making the video in a different style than usual, so I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. Feel free to ask questions there too, like how certain shots were taken. I try to reply to as many comments as possible.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be exhibiting at the ZINE FEST TOKYO in Asakusa. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have, but if I find any unique zines there, I’ll definitely share them in this newsletter too.

See you again next week!

New Zine “DARKROOM IN USE” Available Now. Grab your copy before it’s gone.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

I shoot what 16-year-old me could only stare at.

The ladies. The dangerous nights. The people who didn't belong anywhere — or belonged everywhere.

I was never supposed to be there. So I brought a flash.

Five weeks. No newsletter. I was in the streets — Tokyo, Osaka — shooting. I thought about you the whole time.

You stayed. Through five weeks of nothing in this inbox. That's not nothing to me.
And in that silence, I made something. A zine that feels less like a project and more like a mixtape.

That's DARKROOM IN USE.
64 pages. Signed. Printed in Japan. Ships worldwide from Tokyo.

There's a world most people walk past.

Some of them are under the spotlight — performing, glowing, owning the night. Others are just there, in the dark, between the drinks, at the edge of something they can't name. This zine holds both.

Most of these shots were taken this past fall and winter. Shot, developed, straight in — like tracks on a mixtape.

No waiting, no second-guessing. Just what I saw, what I felt, what I couldn't leave on the roll.

Almost everything was shot on TRI-X 400, pushed to ISO 3200. The grain gets heavy. The contrast gets brutal. This is the Japanese night.

Bonus: Anaglyph print + 3D glasses included.

A zine is a physical thing.
It should do something a screen can't.

So inside every copy, there's an anaglyph print — the kind you need 3D glasses to see properly. Those are included too. Put them on. See what I saw.

A note on where this newsletter is heading.

This newsletter turns two in August. Two years. Somehow it went fast.

Over that time, making this newsletter has pushed me deeper into what zines can actually be — not just self-publishing, but a form of expression that only works because it's a zine.

Going forward, I want to explore that more. The experimental side. The weird side. The side that asks what a zine can do that nothing else can.

For example — what do you think about a zine you can't see?

More on that next week. See you then.

— Yusuke

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

I recently published an interview video on YouTube featuring Qingshan Liu, the Chinese photographer I introduced in my last newsletter.

While preparing this video, there was one thing I really struggled with.
I couldn’t show his nude photographs — which are the core of his work.

Across platforms like Instagram and YouTube, even non-sexual nude photography gets classified as “sexual content.”
Even if I blur parts of the image, the algorithm won’t push that kind of content.

On one hand, I’m proud that FED was able to publish his work as a zine — especially because these kinds of images can’t really exist online.

But at the same time, I know that many people won’t feel like buying a zine without seeing at least part of what’s inside.
That’s why on the FED product page, I try to show as much of the atmosphere of the zine as possible — so I’d really appreciate it if you could check it out.

👉 Check the product page →

I’d also love for more people to see the video.
If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d really appreciate it if you could take a look.

Even just leaving an emoji or a quick comment would really help — it pushes the video to more people.

Watch the video →

Going forward, I want FED to continue publishing and distributing work that sits right on the edge — work that can’t really be shown online.

But honestly, I still don’t know how to promote this kind of work.
If you run a physical space and are interested in carrying FED zines, I’d love to hear from you. You can reply to this email or send me a DM on Instagram.

I’m also open to collaborations — if there’s anything we can create together, let’s make it happen. Thank you.

DARKROOM IN USE Vol.03 — This Month’s Print

The monthly zine project I started this year has now reached Vol.03.

Each issue includes a darkroom print — and this month is no exception.
In this issue, I’ll be featuring a series of raw, wild, and slightly provocative images I shot in Osaka.

I’ll also be sharing some of the ideas, research, and approaches I’ve been developing — this time focusing specifically on my personal methods and tips for street photography.
And here’s this month’s print:

In this image, a dancer is straddling me, and I’m shooting from below. How did I end up in that situation?
I’ll tell the full story inside the zine.

This is the only project where you can get a zine and a handmade darkroom print from me for just $35 — with free shipping. (Now includes tracking.)
There’s also a discounted subscription option available.

👉 Check the details →

Orders for Vol.03 are open until Sunday, April 5.
This issue will also include a special DARKROOM IN USE tag sticker, designed by Yu Chang — a Taiwanese photographer and graffiti artist I’ve introduced before.

Hope you enjoy it.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

You might have seen it on Instagram, but over the past week, I was in Osaka hosting a photography exhibition with my friend YOUNG HAMA.

The venue was Gallery F16. The owner, Soichi, has been supporting my work for a long time — buying my zines and following my projects from early on.

This time, he told me he wanted to carry FED publications in his gallery. So we decided to hold a small exhibition as a kind of launch event.

While preparing for the exhibition, Soichi reached out to me:

“There’s a photographer interested in publishing with FED. Can I introduce him to you?”

That’s how I met Qingshan Liu, a photographer originally from Shanghai, China.

Able to Shoot, But Not Able to Publish

Qingshan lives in Osaka, so we arranged to meet during my exhibition.

On the opening day, he came to visit our gallery. Coincidentally, he also had an exhibition happening at the same time. So the next day, I went to see his work — and we talked for a long time.

At Qingshan Liu’s exhibition

At FED, I’ve already worked with Chinese photographers like MI LU and Zeehaan.
So I was already aware of the realities of censorship in China.

Looking at Qingshan’s work, I immediately felt that creating and exhibiting these kinds of images in China would be nearly impossible.

In China, exhibitions generally require prior approval.
Publishing and selling printed works also requires official permission. Selling zines without approval is illegal.
And even with approval, if the content is considered sensitive, it simply cannot be shown.

Qingshan’s work clearly crosses those lines.

Photo by Qingshan Liu

His photographs use nudity to express the emotions of young people in China —
love, desire, anxiety, and the fragility of life.

These are not shallow or purely erotic images.

When I first saw his work, I felt like I was peeking into the lives of his subjects.

In his artist statement, he writes:

“Clothing is merely the distance society allows. The body is the true existence.”

As we talked, I learned that he originally had a career as a fashion photographer.

That’s why many of his images are carefully staged.

Photo by Qingshan Liu

Even in these staged setups, his creativity is clear.

Every image feels intentional.
Every image feels alive.

And yet, he had only 300 followers on Instagram.

When I asked Soichi about it, he told me:

“His account often gets deleted because of sexual content.”

Which means — even his current account might disappear one day.

Photo by Qingshan Liu

FED exists to bring out work like this.

Work that gets overlooked.
Work that cannot survive on the internet.
Work you would never discover through an algorithm.

That’s why I knew immediately:
His work deserves to be published through FED.

So we started working on a zine together.

This is what we ended up creating: The Heat of the Body

The Heat of the Body

Among all the zines we’ve published at FED, this is one of the most powerful books we’ve made.

Qingshan moved to Japan in search of creative freedom.
He doesn’t speak much Japanese yet. His English is still limited.

But now, in Osaka, he’s trying to build a life through photography — even planning to open his own studio.

His journey as a photographer has only just begun.
Get a copy of this collaboration between FED and Qingshan — and become part of his journey.

The Heat of the Body

Everyone who purchases this zine will also receive an original FED sticker.
By the way, this sticker was designed by Yu Chang — a Taiwanese photographer and graffiti artist I’ve introduced before.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Today I want to talk about why the cover of a zine matters so much.
If you’re currently making a zine — or planning to make one — this should be useful.

Why “Bad” Photos Aren’t Actually Bad

I just published a new video.

In a world where AI can easily generate perfect images, I talk about what realness in photography actually means today. Give it a watch.

If the video resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the YouTube comments. Your comments mean a lot to me and keep me motivated!

Get New Inspiration for Portrait Photography

Kazz’s latest zine ☆DORIMINPA☆ – JUKEBOX issue #5, which was previously sold out, is now back in stock in limited quantities.

This photo zine combines women with playground equipment commonly found in Japanese parks, creating a unique visual world that will surely inspire your own portrait photography.

Shipping is free worldwide — don’t miss it.

Why You Should Start with the Zine Cover — Not the Inside

Recently I had a booth at ZINE FEST TOKYO. The event only lasted five hours, but many visitors purchased zines from FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Right before buying, I overheard one visitor say:
“Which zine should I choose? They’re all great… but which one would I want to hang in my room?”

Especially MI LU’s Shanghai Night Stories — many people picked it up.

I completely understood that feeling.
Even before I started photography, I loved zine culture and collected many zines myself.

Of course the content of a zine matters.
But what first sparks the desire to buy a zine is the cover.

Yet many people start by planning the content, designing layouts in Canva or InDesign, and only create the cover at the very end.

If you want people to actually pick up your zine, that approach is wrong.
Start with the cover.

It’s the same as a YouTube thumbnail or a blog title.
If a video thumbnail isn’t interesting, you simply won’t click on it. No matter how much effort went into the video itself, if the thumbnail is weak, nobody watches.

Zines are the same.
Your cover needs to capture attention immediately.

Now imagine the psychology of a zine buyer.
Unlike a regular book, zines carry the joy of discovery.

It’s the feeling of finding something independent — something you didn’t expect to come across.

Something that most people still don’t know about.

Some people share their zines on social media, some don’t. But deep down, many zine buyers want to show off their discovery.

At least I do. When I find an amazing zine, I want to tell everyone.

But if the cover design is weak, that excitement disappears.

Don’t lose the opportunity to have people pick up your zine — or share it — simply because you were lazy with the cover.

If you’re making a zine right now, start working on the cover design today.

And if you’ve already made one, look at it again and ask yourself honestly:
Does this cover actually grab attention?
Is it something people would be proud to show others?

Also, choose the right paper for your cover.
I’ve written about zine cover design and paper choices before, so check out that article as well.

👉 7 Zine Cover Design Ideas to Make Yours Stand Out

👉 How to Choose the Right Paper for Your Zine

FAR EAST DARKROOM’s First Exhibition in Osaka

From March 19–24, FAR EAST DARKROOM will hold its first exhibition in Osaka, at Gallery F16.

Photographers exhibiting:
Yusuke Nagata, YOUNG HAMA, and Kazz Suzuki

Under the theme “DARKROOM IN USE,” we’ll be showing darkroom prints by the three of us. If you’re in Osaka — or visiting — please come by. Details here.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Over the past 90 days, I published four YouTube videos — the most consistent I’ve ever been on the platform.

Two were photographer interviews.
Two were about my own photography.

Are you curious how much zine sales those videos actually generated?

Today, I’m sharing the real numbers — with screenshots.

🎁 I Received a Beautiful Gift

Recently, my three-week exhibition at BAR Shikatanaine in Shinjuku came to an end.
Thank you to everyone who came. It meant a lot to drink together, talk, and connect in person.

And Ema @ema_3.8 , who traveled all the way from Italy, gave me a beautiful gift.

This is a darkroom print he made.

At first, I thought it was two different photos printed on a single sheet. But when I saw the original negative, I realized it was actually one single image.

By using the window frame and cropping carefully, he created a photograph that feels like two frames within one.

Ema — thank you for this unique print.

Go follow his work and support his creative journey.
👉 @ema_3.8

🚨 Monthly Zine + Darkroom Print Vol.02 — Orders Close in 2 Days

To everyone who purchased Vol.01 — thank you. I’ve been receiving messages from around the world as copies begin to arrive, and it truly makes me happy.

Now, the deadline for Vol.02 is approaching.
Here’s this month’s print:

A place at the edge of the world.
A deserted, forgotten landscape where no one seems to go.
What kind of world lies beyond that dark sky?

In the darkroom, I used burning techniques to deepen the sky and the sea, pushing the mood darker — expressing that sense of distance and isolation I felt while standing there.

As always, this is printed on fiber paper.

Orders close March 5 at midnight (Japan time).
$31.5 with free shipping (monthly plan; one-time option available).

If you’ve never seen one of my fiber prints in person, this is your chance.

👉 Details here

📺 Is YouTube Actually Good for Promoting Zines?

Now, I’d like to share the zine sales generated through YouTube over the past 90 days.

In a previous newsletter, I wrote “You Don’t Need Followers to Sell Zines.”
And while I still believe that, let’s be honest — if you want your zine to reach more people, having an audience helps.

But what matters more than followers is supporters.

Zines are different from polished photobooks. They’re more like mixtapes — raw, immediate, imperfect. I believe that if your passion is inside, that’s enough.

But who actually pays for that passion?

The people who want to support your work.
And I’m deeply grateful to everyone who supports my work. Truly — thank you.

If you’re selling your zine — not just giving it away — you need to communicate clearly why someone should buy it.

Instagram, as the name suggests, is instant. No matter how much energy we put into a post, it rarely reaches people deeply.

So over the last 90 days, I focused on YouTube.
I published four videos.

FAR EAST DARKROOM by NUTS TOKYO

As of March 2, they’ve reached a combined 20,000 views.
My channel has 6,000 subscribers — and about half of the viewers were new.

Reaching new audiences like this is powerful. It gives creators a real chance to show their work to people who’ve never seen it before.

And now — sorry to keep you waiting.
Here are the sales numbers generated from those four videos:

Over 90 days, YouTube generated $1,285 in revenue (including shipping).
The real impact is likely higher, since not all sales are perfectly trackable.

This revenue includes sales across FED, not just my own zines.
The best-selling titles were Yu Chang’s photobooks. We sold 50 copies total — 25 each of two editions — and they all sold out. The first 30 copies sold out just five days after the YouTube video was published.

He told me he wants to produce a new photobook this year. I believe this revenue meaningfully contributed to his goal.

From a business perspective, $1,285 might not sound huge.
But for independent creators?

For me, this result was incredibly encouraging.

I still have a lot to learn about making videos. But this experience made me want to study YouTube more seriously — and help bring more photographers to the world stage.

And once again, to everyone who purchases from FED and supports independent creators — thank you.

📮 What’s Next for This Newsletter

I have one more update.
We’ve just added a new zine by Tokyo-based photographer Milo to FED, the platform I run. Be sure to check it out.

Estancia - Milo

Including myself, we’ve now introduced the work of 17 photographers 🎉

The scale may still be small.
But I’m proud that we’re not just posting photos online — we’re delivering them physically into people’s hands as zines. And more importantly, helping photographers generate income from their art.

Looking ahead, I’ve been thinking seriously about the future.

Whether it’s under FED or a separate brand, I want to build an online community for people who are serious about photography — making zines, making prints, and having real conversations about building a creative life.

To grow that vision, I’m committing to learning more about digital marketing — including YouTube and Instagram strategy.

So this newsletter will gradually expand beyond just zine-making. I’ll also share what I’m learning about growing creative projects sustainably.

If there’s anything specific you’d like to learn about, just reply to this email. I read every message and respond whenever I can.

Thanks for reading until the end.
See you next week.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Here’s a quick update on what the first two months of the year have looked like for me as a photographer:

• Exhibitions / Events: 3 (January: ZINE FEST TOKYO / February: BAR Shikatanaine, Tokyo Streets X)

• Zines published: 2 (Shinjuku Kaleidoscope / Monthly Zine Vol.01)

• Zines currently in progress: 2 (Stay tuned.)

• Darkroom prints: around 40 (Mainly for Monthly Zine supporters)

• YouTube videos: 1 (Watch here)

Not a bad start, right?

🚨 Monthly Zine + Darkroom Print — Vol.02 Now Available. Limited orders until February 28

Last month I launched my Monthly Zine project, which includes a handmade darkroom print with each issue.

Vol.01 received far more support than I expected — I even used up all the ILFORD 5×7” fiber paper I had at home. Time to restock.

For Vol.01, I created a custom header card using one of my own photographs, punched holes by hand, and designed it so it wouldn’t feel like just a newspaper — but more like a physical object, something closer to a product. I’m honestly very happy with how it turned out.

Almost all Vol.01 orders have now been shipped. If you’re waiting, it’s on its way.

And starting today, Vol.02 is officially available. Get your copy here.
Orders are open for about 10 days only — until February 28.

This month’s print is this:

It was photographed in a wetland in Hokkaido.

I had been scanning Google Maps, searching for landscapes that felt like “the edge of the world.” When I saw this place — land that seemed to simply end — I felt a pull. I needed to see what was there.

When I arrived, the wooden pier was nearly broken, no one was around, and the place felt almost post-apocalyptic — like a scene from the afterlife.

In the darkroom, I burned the sky to deepen the mood, pushing the print toward a darker, heavier atmosphere — to match what I felt standing there.

What lies beyond that broken bridge?

Through this photograph, I hope you can experience that edge-of-the-world feeling for yourself.

This will be also printed on fiber paper. The full set — zine plus darkroom print — is $31.5 (for monthly subscribers).
There’s no other way to get one of my fiber prints at this price.

If you’ve been thinking about it, now’s the time.

Order here →

This month’s zine will also include:

• Behind-the-scenes stories from my January and February shoots
• Moments from my recent trip to Shanghai
• Several new photographs taken there

I arrived in Shanghai around 5 PM for a transit stop — and left at 7 AM the next morning. A true one-night stay.

With such limited time, what kind of images could I make?

You’ll see inside Vol.02.

🪐 TOKYO STREETS X at WPU Hotel, Shinjuku

Until February 22, I’m exhibiting at a photography and art event hosted by Tokyo Streets at the WPU Hotel gallery in Shinjuku.

It’s free and open to everyone.
I’ll be there almost every day — come say hi.

• Location: WPU Hotel (MAP)

• Dates: February 17–22

• Hours: 11:00–20:00

• Reception Party (Saturday): 6 PM – 10 PM

Hope to see you there.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

You carefully edited the files, exported the PDF, and finally sent everything off to the printer.

But when the printed zine arrived at your home… the colors looked strange. It was darker than expected. The overall quality felt disappointing.

Have you ever experienced that?
Before blaming the printing company, you might need to better understand how to properly prepare your files for print.

This edition will be especially helpful if you’re about to make your first zine — or if you’ve made zines before but always feel unsatisfied with the colors.

Table of Contents

• 🚨 NEWS: My Contact Sheet Zine Has Surpassed 200 C …

• 🎨 Print Basics: Understanding RGB vs. CMYK

• 🧑‍💻 How I Edit My Photos for Zine Printing

  • Adjusting Saturation and Luminance in Lightroom (C …

  • Lifting the Shadows in Lightroom

  • Final Color Adjustments

• 🔥 The Final Print-Ready File

• 🏫 A Photobook Documenting High School Life on a N …

🚨 NEWS: My Contact Sheet Zine Has Surpassed 200 Copies Sold

Thank you so much to everyone who continues to support my work.

My contact sheet zine has now sold over 200 copies. In addition, both 404 NOT FOUND Vol.1 and Vol.2 are officially sold out. That means a total of 650 copies from the 404 series are now out in the world, in someone’s hands.

When I first created the 404 zine, I never imagined it would reach this many people. There are currently no plans for a reprint. To everyone who picked up a copy — thank you, truly.

And if you still haven’t gotten the contact sheet zine, now might be the time.

👉 Check my zines 👈

🎨 Print Basics: Understanding RGB vs. CMYK

Before making a zine, there’s one thing you absolutely need to understand: the difference between RGB and CMYK.

Most of us edit our photos on a computer. On your screen, colors are displayed in RGB (Red, Green, Blue) — the additive color system based on light.
Because screens emit light, they can display vibrant, glowing colors — even neon-like tones — beautifully.

On the other hand, when you print a zine (or anything on paper), colors are created using CMYK — Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink.

To be honest, you don’t need to get overly technical about RGB this and CMYK that.
The only thing you really need to remember is this:

Screens create color with light (RGB).
Paper creates color with ink (CMYK).

That’s the fundamental difference.

When you layer light, it becomes brighter — eventually turning white. When you layer ink, it becomes darker — eventually turning black.

Because of this difference in how color is created, the range of colors (color gamut) that ink can reproduce is narrower than what light can display.
That’s why the colors you see on your screen will almost never look exactly the same once printed.

But don’t panic.

Once you understand how ink behaves, you can prepare your files properly for print — and get much closer to the result you want.

🧑‍💻 How I Edit My Photos for Zine Printing

Let me walk you through how I prepare image files for my zines.

I’ll use this photo as an example. It’s a shot I took at an event — a woman smoking, captured in profile. I loved how the background was lit in orange and green. The artificial light created a really beautiful contrast.

But if I printed this photo exactly as it looks on screen, those colors would lose their magic.

I haven’t actually printed this exact original file, but based on experience, I can already predict what would happen:
The orange would likely turn dull and muddy, and the shadows would block up, making her expression harder to read.

That would completely ruin the night atmosphere I’m trying to convey.

Photos like this — especially ones lit by artificial night lighting — are extremely difficult to reproduce accurately in print.

Just remember this:
Print will almost always look darker than your screen.

Paper doesn’t emit light. It reflects ink.
So when I prepare files for print, I often push the vibrancy and brightness further than feels “correct” on screen. Sometimes it even looks slightly overdone on my monitor — but that’s intentional.

Let’s look at the actual process.

Adjusting Saturation and Luminance in Lightroom (Color Mixer)

First, I adjust the main color — in this case, orange.

To prevent it from turning muddy in print, I go into Lightroom’s Color Mixer and tweak the Saturation and Luminance of the orange channel. I increase both slightly to make the color brighter and more vibrant.

Then I move on to the secondary color — green — and adjust it in the same way using the Color Mixer.

Lifting the Shadows in Lightroom

Shadows are another problem area in print.

Shadows don’t reproduce the same way in print as they do on screen. That’s why I lift the shadows in Lightroom to make the overall image brighter before sending it to print.

Final Color Adjustments

Adjusting the shadows slightly reduced the vibrancy of the green areas, so this time I tweaked the Tint just a bit to bring it back.

After printing over and over again, I’ve learned that greens like this are especially difficult to reproduce accurately in print.

🔥 The Final Print-Ready File

Here is the final print-ready version of the image after editing.

Print-Ready File

Of course, this comes down to personal preference — and honestly, on screen I still prefer the original photo. The colors feel richer and more natural.

Original Image

But when you compare them side by side, the difference becomes clear. The print-ready version is brighter, and the shadow areas are more visible and defined than in the original.

Editing every single image like this might feel tedious. But there’s nothing worse than receiving a box full of freshly printed zines — only to realize you’re not happy with how the photos look. Trust me. It’s worth the extra effort. Give it a try.

That said, even after making these adjustments, it doesn’t guarantee the colors will turn out exactly how you imagined. Instead of printing 50 or 100 copies right away, start with just one copy — or even just a few selected pages as a test print — and check the colors carefully.

And don’t forget: when exporting your PDF, make sure to set the color mode to CMYK, not RGB.

If you have the time and budget, repeat this test process. Refine it step by step until you arrive at the version that truly satisfies you.

Also, keep in mind that this workflow is simply how I approach making zines. If you’re planning to produce a full-scale photobook, I strongly recommend working directly with a professional printing company and going through proper color proofing with them.

If you have your own tips for preparing print files, feel free to share them in the comments. I’d love to hear your process.

See you next time!

🏫 A Photobook Documenting High School Life on a Nikon EM — Now Available at FED

If I had owned a camera during my high school years, I definitely would have documented everything.

Photos from your student days can only be taken during that time in your life — the after-school moments spent doing nothing with classmates, the friends who make funny faces the moment a camera points at them, the sports events, the small everyday scenes that now feel deeply nostalgic.

Hajime is 18 years old. He created a photobook titled A RUDE AWAKENING, documenting his own high school life.

This book is his debut publication, produced as a hardcover edition using money he had saved since childhood from otoshidama — the Japanese New Year tradition where children receive small cash gifts from their families. By investing those personal savings, he chose to turn his first body of work into a physical book.

He is now studying photography at university, continuing down this path.

His debut work is now available at FAR EAST DARKROOM.
A rare book you won’t easily find elsewhere — make sure to check it out.

👉 A RUDE AWAKENING - Hajime Matsumoto 👈

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Since last Sunday, I’ve been holding a solo exhibition in Shinjuku, and things have been pretty hectic—so this newsletter went out a bit later than usual.

The reason is simple: I made a brand-new zine specifically for this exhibition.

The show opened on February 1, but I didn’t start working on the zine until January 26. To make it in time, I had to submit the final data to the printer by the end of the next day, January 27. That meant I had just one day to do everything.

I was honestly worried it wouldn’t make it—but somehow, it did. Here’s the zine I ended up making.

A massive 128-page volume. The people of Shinjuku — Tokyo’s city of desire.

This time, I want to walk you through how I made it in one day (actually, about six hours)—from the workflow to the real problems that came up along the way.

📝 Quick update:
If you ordered the Monthly Zine with Darkroom Print, everything is on track to ship around Feb 10. Thanks for your patience — you’re all amazing!

Table of Contents

• The Editing Took Just 6 Hours

  • ⏰ January 26, 10:00 PM: Selecting Photos in Lightr …

  • ⏰ January 26, 11:00 PM: Starting the Layout in InD …

  • 📝 Why I Use InDesign

  • ⏰ January 27, 2:00 AM: Title and Statement

  • ⏰ January 27, 2:30 AM: Exporting the PDF — Trouble

• 🎉 The Zine Arrived in Time for the Exhibition

The Editing Took Just 6 Hours

⏰ January 26, 10:00 PM: Selecting Photos in Lightroom

On January 26, I suddenly decided to make a zine for the exhibition. When I looked at the clock, it was already 10:00 PM.

There was no time to overthink it. I decided on the theme immediately. Since the exhibition was at a gallery bar in Shinjuku, the theme had to be Shinjuku.

I opened Lightroom. Normally, I’d create a dedicated folder for the zine and carefully add candidate images. But this time, even that felt like a luxury.

Instead, I scrolled through my photos chronologically and exported anything that felt like it could fit the theme. I exported more than 150 images to a local folder.

It was still only 11:00 PM. A good pace.

⏰ January 26, 11:00 PM: Starting the Layout in InDesign

Next, I opened InDesign.

When I’m working on layout and sequencing, I usually reference other photobooks or zines. But this time, there wasn’t enough time to pull ideas from multiple books.

While selecting photos in Lightroom, I realized this zine had a similar vibe to one specific photobook: 90 Nights by Meisa Fujishiro.

90 Nights documents Tokyo’s club scene in the 1990s. John Sypal wrote a great review of it—if you’re interested, definitely check that out.

The book focuses more on people than landscapes, and you can really feel the heat of the night. That matched exactly what I wanted to do with this zine. So I decided to follow a similar layout approach.

90 Nights by Meisa Fujishiro

The layout rules were simple:

• No margins. Photos fill the entire page.

• Horizontal images are either placed two-up on a single page, or shown large across a full spread.

I also borrowed the sequencing idea:

• The first few pages feature strong, iconic images that grab the reader.

• Toward the end, quieter images appear—like the night slowly coming to an end.

It’s the flow of a night out at a club: excitement on the way there, drinks, peak energy—and then the calm that comes when it’s almost over.

On top of that, I layered the chaotic energy of Shinjuku, which became the core of this zine.

I kept placing photos in InDesign, one after another.

Some of the images were black and white. When black-and-white photos are printed as color in on-demand printing, the blacks can sometimes turn slightly purple. To avoid that, I converted each black-and-white image to grayscale.

In InDesign, I selected each photo, chose Edit Original in Photoshop, converted it to grayscale, saved it, and moved on.

📝 Why I Use InDesign

By the way, I know people use all kinds of tools—Photoshop, Canva, and more. I heard that InDesign was the standard for book layout, so I started using it and never really looked back.

Compared to Canva, InDesign has a few clear advantages:

• You can instantly switch between edit view and trimmed preview (on Mac, just press Shift + W).

• Even in preview mode, the center line is visible, which makes spreads easier to visualize.

When you’re printing a zine, you also need to account for bleed—usually about 3mm beyond the final size. If you don’t, you risk white edges appearing after trimming.

InDesign makes it easy to handle these print-specific details efficiently, especially with shortcuts. That speed really matters when you’re on a tight deadline.

My actual InDesign editing screen

⏰ January 27, 2:00 AM: Title and Statement

Four hours in, after checking the flow over and over in preview mode, I finished placing around 100 photos. Including the cover, the zine ended up being 128 pages.

But there was one problem: I still didn’t have a title.

As I reviewed the sequence, I realized something. Even if you walk the same streets at night, the scene changes completely depending on your angle—Shinjuku is like a kaleidoscope.

That word, kaleidoscope, felt perfect.

It was 2:00 AM. There was no one I could ask for feedback. I asked ChatGPT what it thought, felt good about it myself, and decided on the title Shinjuku Kaleidoscope.

I then wrote a short statement to match the title.
(For the record, I started working at 10:00 PM, and by this point I’d had about three cans of beer.)

⏰ January 27, 2:30 AM: Exporting the PDF — Trouble

Everything looked finished in InDesign.
I exported the PDF for printing. While it was exporting, I had a cigarette and reviewed the flow one last time.

Then I went to the printer’s website, selected the page count, quantity, and specs, and paid.

Here were the specs:

• Printing: On-demand

• Binding: Perfect binding

• Paper used:

  • Cover — Matte Coated 135kg (Gloss Lamination)

  • Body — Matte Coated 110kg

If you’re curious about zine paper, make sure to check this out too.

Then I uploaded the PDF. That’s when the problem hit.
The printer I usually use has a 3GB upload limit. My file was 5GB.

It was already 3:00 AM. I was tired. I’d been drinking. I wanted to sleep.
But if I wanted to make the deadline, I had no choice.

Since this was an A5 zine (A4 spreads), the images didn’t actually need to be that large. Even for a full-spread image, 4093 × 2894 pixels at 350dpi is more than enough.

Pixel dimensions required for printing

So I selected the largest images in InDesign, opened them in Photoshop, and resized them to around 4000–5000 pixels on the long edge at 350dpi.

Some of the originals were over 12,000 pixels wide—definitely overkill.

I resized everything, got the files uploaded, and just like that, it was already 4 AM.

🎉 The Zine Arrived in Time for the Exhibition

And this is what arrived.

It made it.

People started buying it from the very first day of the exhibition. To everyone who picked up a copy—thank you so much.

This zine is also available on the FAR EAST DARKROOM website.

It’s packed with raw, vivid photos of people living in the nights of Shinjuku—scenes I’ve been shooting for nearly seven years. It also features color photos, which I haven’t used in a zine for a while.

If you pick one up, you’ll be supporting my photography—and I really appreciate that.

The sales also help support FAR EAST DARKROOM. As you know, FED buys photobooks and zines upfront to reduce inventory risk for photographers and help fund their next projects.

Sales from this zine will go toward supporting new photographers as well.
Thank you all for the support. See you next week!

👉 View the zine details 👈

Limited print sets are also available

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more photographers on Instagram talking about how their engagement is dropping. They say their likes are way down compared to before. I’m guessing a lot of you feel the same way.

Today, I want to write honestly about how I feel right now—about Instagram, and about zines.

Table of Contents

• NEWS: Monthly Zine with a Darkroom Print Vol.01 — …

• Instagram Is No Longer a Platform for Photographer …

• Don’t Create Photos Meant to Be Consumed

• Convenience Made Our Photo Experience Instant

• Now Is the Time to Show Your Work, Slowly and Sinc …

NEWS: Monthly Zine with a Darkroom Print Vol.01 — Orders Close on January 31

In the last newsletter, I introduced Monthly Zine, what I’d call my biggest project of the year.

To everyone who’s already placed an order—thank you so much. If you signed up for the annual plan, your print will arrive carefully framed. I hope you’re excited.

Orders for Volume 01 close on January 31. If you’re interested, make sure to place your order before the deadline.

👉 See more details 👈

 

Instagram Is No Longer a Platform for Photographers

I often hear people say—both online and in real life—that Instagram is no longer a platform for photographers. And sure, it’s easy to feel frustrated with it.

But take a step back for a moment. We don’t need to let Instagram control us.

There’s no doubt that Instagram was an amazing tool for photographers to share their work with the world. But a tool is just a tool.

A tool exists to make something more convenient. Instagram was convenient for sharing photos. That’s all.

Before Instagram, people used Flickr, or posted photos on their own blogs. Before the internet, photographers showed their work through exhibitions.

Of course, Instagram helped me reach more people too. But even if my photos don’t get delivered to users because of an algorithm, I don’t think that’s something to be pessimistic about anymore.

Let me explain why.

Don’t Create Photos Meant to Be Consumed

Earlier, I released an interview video on YouTube with Korean photographer Min Seonhong @hikarino.houe. I titled it “Your Photos Are Not Meant to Be Swiped.”

In the video, Min talks about how we look at photos on Instagram, but they’re instantly swiped away. He says we should be looking at photos more slowly, more carefully.

I’ve felt the same way for a long time. On a tiny phone screen, you can’t really experience a photograph properly. You miss the small details.

I’ve always felt a sense of emptiness knowing my photos might just be scrolled past—consumed as content and forgotten. I’m not a content creator. I don’t want to deliver my photos as “content.” I want to deliver them as a form of art.

If you see photography as content, and you want to be a content creator, feel free to ignore what I’m saying.
But if you want your photos to exist in this world as something lasting—something more than disposable content—then you should stop depending on Instagram.

Convenience Made Our Photo Experience Instant

As I said earlier, Instagram made expression more convenient.

Before the internet, famous photographers might have published their work in magazines or photobooks, but most people had to print their photos and hold exhibitions to show them.
If you wanted inspiration, you bought photobooks or visited exhibitions.

Instagram made all of that easier. You no longer needed to hold an exhibition to show your photos, or buy a photobook to get inspired.

But that convenience changed the experience of photography itself.

At an exhibition, you might stand in front of a single photo for several minutes, trying to understand it, or sitting with emotions you can’t fully put into words. Almost no one does that on Instagram.

Photos became instant. The experience became instant.

Now Is the Time to Show Your Work, Slowly and Sincerely

In a society that judges everything instantly as “good” or “bad,” we’re losing the ability to think deeply. Photography is no exception.

If you want people to truly see your work, organize an exhibition. Even if visitors can’t afford a print, give them something to take home—make a zine.

Reach out to bookstores or online shops and ask them to carry your zine.

You can’t say, “I don’t have many followers, so my zine won’t sell.”

What matters is whether you’re actually making the effort to show your zine to people.

If you want to use online platforms, make a YouTube video about your zine. Send your zine to people with a strong voice and ask them to help spread the word.

Follower count doesn’t matter. Simply posting about your zine on Instagram won’t sell it. I know this from experience.

What really leads to zine sales is consistently doing real-world activities—exhibitions, events, conversations.
Instagram shouldn’t be where you show your photos, but where you archive those real activities, like a blog. At least, that’s how I see it.

Instagram is a social network. Its algorithm probably changed because simply showing photos wasn’t enough for “social networking” anymore.

So the real question is: who do you want to connect with through photography?

If there’s someone you want to connect with, go see their exhibition.
If you can’t, buy their zine and tell them what you thought. Those small connections slowly build your own social network.

I hope your creative life keeps getting better.
Thanks for reading all the way through. See you next week.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Do you know Record, the zine project Daido Moriyama began back in 1972?
(Of course, back then, no one was calling it a “zine.”)

In an interview, Moriyama described Record like this:

Over the past two years, I’ve made six zines of my own.
Each one had a clear theme, and naturally, I selected photos that fit those themes.

But as I kept making zines, I started to notice something:
there are always photos that don’t make it in.

Not because they’re bad photos, but simply because they don’t fit the theme.
There are so many images that never see the light of day for that reason alone.

I want to show this series too, but it’s still not out anywhere.

The same goes for my darkroom prints. I spend a lot of time printing at home, but many of those prints end up sleeping quietly in a box, never being shown.

I wanted to share those unseen photos and prints more freely.
That feeling pushed me to start a new zine project—one of my biggest projects this year.

In this newsletter, I want to introduce that new project.

Table of Contents

• “Street” Is an Undefined Concept

• Finished Photos Sometimes Contain Lies

• Chasing Freshness

• This Zine Is My Creative Notebook

• Pre-orders for the first issue close on January 31

“Street” Is an Undefined Concept

Last month, I returned from traveling in Taiwan and China, and almost immediately jumped into the Tokyo Streets X exhibition that weekend. Before I knew it, the year was wrapping up, and the holidays were filled with visits to see my mother, who lives alone in Hokkaido. Things got busy, and I took a short break from the newsletter.

From this week on, I’ll be back to sending it out every Tuesday. I hope you’ll stick with me.

To talk about this new zine project, I need to start with the idea of “street.”

I’ve been shooting street photography for many years, but the photos I take aren’t always literally on the street.

Everyone defines street photography differently, but for me, “street” (including street culture) is where new movements emerge—places filled with something that hasn’t yet been categorized or named.

In that sense, street photography is, broadly speaking, an undefined genre.

And that’s exactly what draws me to it.

When zines first emerged as a medium for minority voices, the people creating them were often undefined too—people who didn’t fit neatly into society’s existing categories.

I’ve always preferred music that’s rough but deeply resonant over polished, mass-oriented tracks. The same goes for street photography. Even if it doesn’t appeal to everyone, I love photographing the lives of people in Shinjuku—people who are just trying to survive, people who are still “nobody.”

Finished Photos Sometimes Contain Lies

Being undefined. Being unfinished.
That’s one of the core ideas behind my photography.

If I were to make a hardcover book, the photos inside would become “finished” in a certain sense. A finished photobook fixes the meaning of images in place.

But a medium like a zine—something you put out as-is, unfinished—keeps photos from being locked down.

Think of the difference between a rapper’s mixtape and a fully produced studio album.
A zine is a mixtape: raw, rough, unfinished, driven by pure initial impulse.

Photos in that unfinished state are dense with passion, and they haven’t yet been contaminated by the photographer’s excuses or explanations. Once you try to polish something into a “final form,” you start adding reasons after the fact—and that’s where lies creep in.

I want to deliver photos that are still alive.
Not frozen food, but freshly made sushi.

That’s why I make zines.

And as someone who documents life in the city—the smell of people, scattered trash, heat, tension—I believe zines are the best medium to deliver those things while they’re still fresh.

Chasing Freshness

Looking back, I think I may have polished my previous zines a little too much.
Paper choices, tracing paper experiments—I put a lot of care into making them beautiful.

But when you chase quality too hard, a zine can easily turn into nothing more than a self-published book.

Everyone defines “zine” differently, but for me, the key difference between a book and a zine is whether it enters mainstream distribution.
If you can’t find it in a normal bookstore, that’s where zines really live. The dopest stuff always does.

So this time, instead of prioritizing refinement, I decided to focus on regular publication—a zine that doesn’t carefully select and polish, but simply shows what happened that month. Something closer to Moriyama’s Record. Something fresh.

That’s why I chose the newspaper format, and why this newspaper-style zine will be my biggest project of 2026.

This is “DARKROOM IN USE,” a new zine project I’m starting. Each month, you’ll receive a darkroom print and a newspaper-style zine.

This Zine Is My Creative Notebook

Each issue will be 24 pages. Alongside my own photos, I’ll feature one photographer every month. For the very first issue, I’m featuring Taiwanese photographer Yeh Che-Yeh.
(He hasn’t used Instagram since his account was banned, so chances to see his work online are extremely limited—which makes featuring photographers like him even more exciting.)

I’ll also include my darkroom printing process, film development notes, and stories from shooting. This isn’t just a zine that lines up photos—it’s closer to a creative notebook, showing how I work.

Every issue will also come with one of my darkroom prints as a gift.
This month’s print was shot in Hokkaido and printed on Ilford 5×7” fiber paper.
(I feel a little awkward saying this myself, but you won’t find my fiber prints at this price anywhere else.)

I’ve also prepared an annual subscription plan. Subscribers will receive a framed print in the first month. The mat is custom-made to complement my prints, and the frame is designed so you can swap in each month’s new print as it arrives.

Annual subscribers will also receive a shout-out as supporters in each future issue (name or handle optional). More details will be shared by email.

Pre-orders for the first issue close on January 31

To manage shipping, this monthly zine will be available only during a limited order window each month. Once the window closes, it won’t be available for purchase.

For this first issue, orders are open from today until January 31.
(Shipping is planned for around February 10.)

To reduce shipping costs for international readers, this monthly zine will be sent as untracked letter mail. I’ll personally stamp and send each envelope.
It’s the beginning of a small adventure—monthly zines and prints traveling from Tokyo to the world.

As you know, FED also supports photographers by purchasing their photobooks and zines upfront, reducing inventory risk and helping fund their creative work—including the recent photobooks by Yu Chang.

Sales from this monthly zine will allow FED to support even more photographers, so if you’d like to support what we’re building, I’d truly appreciate it.

Thank you, everyone. You’re the best.

See you next week.

Monthly Zine with a Darkroom Print

Each month, you’ll receive a 5×7” darkroom print and a newspaper-style zine. Join me on this adventure.

fareastdarkroom.com/products/darkroominuse

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Last week, I went to Taiwan and Shanghai to shoot photos. In Taiwan, I didn’t just stay in Taipei—I also took the high-speed rail down to Tainan. I was constantly on the move, so I didn’t get a chance to send out the newsletter.

While I was in Taipei, I met a photographer named Yu Chang @yuchang106.

Photo from his book “Side Effects of the City”

He originally started out as a graffiti artist (and he’s still active). When he was documenting the graffiti scene, he realized that shooting with a digital camera was risky—police could check the images on the spot. So he switched to film.

As he fell deeper into photography, he began shooting not just graffiti, but his everyday life. The photos he makes now are pure Taipei underground.

Yu Chang took a series of photos of women working in the sex industry. Looking at those images, I asked him:

“Usually it’s really hard to photograph women like this. How did you manage to shoot them?”

Photo from his book “Side Effects of the City”

He answered simply:

“Because I made them happy.”

That answer made perfect sense.

People sometimes ask me the same thing when they see my photos from Kabukicho. “How did you manage to photograph people like that?”

And my answer is usually something like, “Because we did tequila shots together,” or “Because we drank together.”

Photos from his book “somnambulate taipei”

Yu Chang and I shoot very different scenes, but at the core, we’re doing the same thing: we’re photographing within our own lifestyles.

And that’s the point. Each of us has a different lifestyle, and because of that, there are photos that only we can take.

Photo from his book “Side Effects of the City”

I brought back as many copies of Yu Chang’s photobook from Taiwan as I could fit into my suitcase. These are signed copies and very hard to find elsewhere. Quantities are limited, so if you’re interested, make sure to check them out.

Side Effects of the City - YU CHANG

Side Effects of the City features photographs taken between 2019 and 2020.
All images were printed by YU CHANG himself in the darkroom.

https://fareastdarkroom.com/products/side-effects-of-the-city

somnambulate taipei - YU CHANG

somnambulate taipei is the artist’s debut photobook. Across 87 pages, it captures the raw and underground scenes of Taipei—intimate, chaotic, and deeply personal.

fareastdarkroom.com/products/somnambulate-taipei

🚨 New YouTube Video

I also recently uploaded a new video on YouTube. In this one, I look back on what’s happened as I’ve continued to follow my curiosity through photography—it’s a record of my own photographic adventure.

I hope you’ll check it out.

That’s it for this week’s edition.
Thank you for reading. See you next week!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

I already shared this on Instagram, but last Saturday I held a collaborative exhibition with SUPER NICE, an Australian apparel brand. For this show, I displayed four A0-sized prints (841 × 1189 mm / 33.1 × 46.8 inches).

Have you ever exhibited your work at A0 size?

I actually have before—and honestly, it’s one of my favorite ways to show photos. There are a few reasons for that.

First, large prints have a simple but undeniable power: they overwhelm you.
In a world where everyone has gotten used to viewing images on tiny phone screens, seeing the exact same photo blown up huge in a gallery hits completely differently.

And when a print is that big, viewers start noticing details inside the frame that they would have never seen on a phone. As photographers, having someone notice those little details we cared about… that’s one of the best feelings.

To be honest, I never actually knew what the tattoo on the woman’s lips said—the one I used on the cover of 404 NOT FOUND Issue 2.1.
But when I printed it at A0 size for this show, I finally noticed it for the first time.

It said “SILENCE.” haha

There’s something really cool about opening your mouth and revealing the word “silence.”

Another reason is this:
When you print at A0 scale, a photograph stops being just an image you look at. It becomes a subject.

At the exhibition, several visitors used the A0 prints as backdrops to take their own photos. I also took portraits of people who bought my zines, shooting them in front of the giant prints.
When your print itself becomes a subject—something that others photograph—it spreads your work even further. And personally, that makes me incredibly happy.

Huge thanks to SUPER NICE for giving me the opportunity to do this exhibition.
We’re also planning to sell a limited number of the collaboration T-shirts through FED soon, so if you’re interested, make sure to follow the FED Instagram.

The material is insanely good—honestly one of my favorite T-shirts.

That’s it for this week’s edition.
Thank you for reading. See you next week!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

When I was a kid, I loved drawing. My mom bought me sketchbooks and those colored pencil sets with dozens of colors, and I’m still grateful she supported me like that.

I also remember adults saying things like, “Music won’t make you money. Don’t aim to be a musician.”

I never want to say anything like that to my kids.
I’d never want to tell them, “Photographers don’t make money, so go to a proper school and find a stable job.”

Absolutely not.

But somewhere along the way, when we grow up, a lot of us stop following our own curiosity. We become adults who can’t even take action unless there’s a clear purpose or measurable goal.

If you’re reading this newsletter, I’m pretty sure you’re someone who still follows your curiosity in some way—someone who creates because they feel like creating.

You don’t need a purpose to follow what excites you.

“Because I want to.”

That’s enough. And I know you get that.

“If it’s not your job, it’s just a hobby.”

The other day, I posted this on Threads:

@_nuts.tokyo_ on Threads

To be honest, the story was half-fiction.
But I had a feeling it would spark a lot of reactions—so I posted it anyway.

And as expected, it blew up. Right now, the post has over 190 comments.

The most common topic people brought up was whether I make money from photography. So many people said things like:

“If it’s not your job, it’s just a hobby.”

But people who say that are probably the same type who would have told Madonna—when she arrived in New York with just $35 in her pocket and worked part-time jobs while chasing her dream— “Your music is just a hobby.”

They’re probably the kind who would laugh at the Wright brothers—two men obsessed with the idea of flying—and say, “Cute hobby you’ve got there.”

But here’s the thing.

A hobby is “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.”

If you’re spending most of your day—or most of your week—devoting yourself to that passion, then it’s no longer a hobby.

Over these past two years, photography has been so much more than a hobby for me.

Weekdays, weekends—it didn’t matter. I went out to shoot every chance I got.
One time I even flew over 1,000 km to an island just to photograph a rocket launch.
I traveled to Taiwan to shoot, and the people I met there eventually led to my showing work at TAIWAN PHOTO months later.

When I was home, I was in my darkroom—developing film, making prints.
I showed my work in exhibitions almost every month, sold prints, released zines, and kept creating nonstop.

My photos weren’t only seen in Japan either.
They were featured in an Austrian newspaper.
DAZED published six full pages of my work.
My photos were even exhibited in a photography museum.

With this much passion behind what I do, I can’t possibly call photography a “hobby.”
That Threads post I shared the other day—that was the real message behind it.

Of course, doing photography as a hobby is totally fine.
But telling someone who’s giving everything they have—someone with real drive and curiosity—that what they’re doing is “just a hobby because it doesn’t make money”?

That’s wrong.
People said the same thing to Madonna. To the Wright brothers.
We know how that turned out.

Honestly, I think we should be encouraging people who follow their curiosity despite not making money from it.
That kind of passion is something we should celebrate, not dismiss.

And I want people who pour their hearts into photography to be rewarded—even just a little.

That’s why I started FAR EAST DARKROOM.

I would never call his passion a hobby.

Min Seonhong is a photographer from South Korea.
Ever since he fell in love with Tokyo, he’s been visiting almost every month.
In just the past year or two, he’s come to Tokyo nearly 30 times.

And he’s now created his very first zine, BLIPS VOL.01.
At 88 pages, it’s so beautifully made that calling it a “zine” almost feels insufficient—it's practically a full-fledged book.

I would never call his passion a hobby.
This is a real artistic practice, and he is a true artist.

And to make sure that passion of his never burns out, I wanted to support him in any way I could. So FAR EAST DARKROOM is now carrying BLIPS VOL.01.
If you’d like to support his work, please check out the zine at the link below.

BLIPS VOL.01 - Min Seonhong →

BLIPS VOL.01

That’s it for this week’s edition.

Thank you for reading. See you next week.

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

404 Bundle Set

The 404 CONTACT SHEETS and 404 NOT FOUND ISSUE 2.1 are now available as a special bundle set. Get both zines together and save more!

fareastdarkroom.com/products/404-bundle-set

(I had to skip last week’s newsletter because I wasn’t feeling well.)

Are you working on any zines lately?
My friend A.J Oxley just created a zine called Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo, featuring photos he shot around Tokyo.
For this edition, I interviewed him and asked him to share some of the stories behind the making of his zine.

The struggles he faced, the decisions he made, and the creative process behind his work will definitely give you some ideas for your own zine-making.

🚨 POP-UP MEETUP — Nov 29

We’re teaming up with the Australian apparel brand SUPER NICE to host a meet-up on Saturday, Nov 29, 2–10 PM. The event will take place right under the Tokyo Skytree, in a gallery space with rooftop access.

Alongside my work, we’ll also be showcasing photos from several other photographers. Starting at 6 PM, we’ll be serving free drinks (limited supply), so feel free to swing by like it’s an early end-of-year party.

Event Details:

📅 Date: Saturday, 29 November 2025
🕑 Time: 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM
🎶 Live music and alcohol service from 6:00 PM
📍 Location: N4 Studio — 4 Chome-18-16 Narihira, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0002, Japan (Google map)

📝 Behind the Stories of Zine-Making with A.J Oxley

Photo from the zine Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo by A.J Oxley

Please introduce yourself.

Hello! My name is A.J Oxley (@_ajox_). I have been photographing daily life, street and football for 10+ years. I live in Perth, Australia but seem to find myself taking my favourite photos abroad, travelling as often as I can.

I started taking photos on my iPhone 5 during my commutes and naturally became drawn to street photography. I then went on to study photography formally, learning and practicing with different mediums and buying my first camera. I have always been a black and white photographer, inspired by classic cinema and then photographers such as Weegee, Moriyama, Koudelka, and Friedlander.

Photo from the zine Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo by A.J Oxley

Can you tell us about your zine? / What inspired you to create it?

I have always been drawn to creating physical media, experimenting with cyanotypes and collages. Creating a zine has been a goal of mine for some time but I wanted it to have an idea behind it, not just be another collection of photos. 

For the idea I created a theme with the title “Outerference”.
Taking a photograph doesn’t just record a moment; it also shapes it. A subject may become more aware of the camera. A scene can shift as it’s framed, composed, or staged. Even in street photography, where the aim is often spontaneity, the presence of the photographer inevitably affects what unfolds and what gets captured.

Photography is never entirely neutral, it involves choosing one version of reality to hold onto. Outerference will explore these realities in various releases.

Photo from the zine Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo by A.J Oxley

What challenges did you face while making your zine? / How did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge for me was knowing what is realistic to produce and compromising.

Originally, I wanted to create them myself, accordion-fold from a single roll through my printer. However, after chewing through expensive ink and materials I looked to outsource the production. So then, I wanted to create my zine locally with an independent printer/production house… unfortunately, where I live there really aren’t any that aren’t commercially focused.

Next option? Online! I did a little research into different companies and found Mixam to be the best for my needs and budget.

Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo by A.J Oxley

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to someone making their first zine?

Don’t overthink it, just start creating something. If you are outsourcing your production - get a tester! Yes, it will be more expensive to produce a single copy but you could make an even more expensive mistake otherwise.
For example, the images in my test copy were completely blown out beyond recognition to the digital proof they sent me.

Also, personalize your zine to give it more personality! I am including a sticker and a polaroid in each of my copies. This way, I am not completely losing the original identity I wanted it to convey.

Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo, by A.J Oxley

Lastly, could you share your future plans for your photography and zine projects?

Since I have created the idea of Outerference as part of a greater theme, I plan to release various editions featuring different subject matter.
This first release is Tokyo, however I plan to feature events/protests closer to home for my second.

Creating a series gives me endless opportunities and ideas to work with. I believe this helps my photography overall and keeps me motivated to continue creating. This also doesn’t limit the idea to my own work, I would love to collaborate with other photographers in the future which could lead to exhibitions and community events which is lacking in Perth.

A huge thank you to A.J for sharing such valuable stories.
Make sure to check out his Instagram—and of course, his zine.

Instagram: @_ajox_

Zine: Outerference Vol. 1: Tokyo

Alright, see you next week! See you!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

Have you ever shot with a disposable camera?

They’re small enough to slip into your pocket, and the flash isn’t too strong—so even if you shoot people on the street, it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable. For example, this photo was taken with one.

You might have seen plastic lenses for digital cameras that make your photos look like they were shot on a disposable camera.

But actually, there’s a way to reuse a real disposable camera. In this edition, I’ll show you exactly how to reload film and use it again.

🔨 Tools You’ll Need to Reuse a Disposable Camera

Here’s what you’ll need to reload a disposable camera :

• A plastic card (like a credit card)

• A flathead screwdriver

• A utility knife

The plastic card is key—it helps you safely open the disposable camera without breaking it.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Reload Film in a Disposable Camera

Step 1: Cut through the sticker along the edge of the body

Most disposable cameras—whether Kodak or Fuji—are made of two parts: a front and back body.

They usually have a single sticker that wraps across both halves. To open it, carefully cut through the sticker with a utility knife.
If you’re fine with keeping the camera as a simple plastic body, you can just peel off the entire sticker instead.

Step 2: Insert a plastic card into the gap along the edge

There are small plastic clips holding the two halves together.

Slide your plastic card into the gap along the edge and gently push—it should pop open naturally. Do this on both sides, and you’ll be able to separate the body.

You might think a screwdriver would work too, but since those clips are also plastic,
a metal tool could easily break them. That’s why using a slightly flexible card is safer.

Step 3: Load new film into your disposable camera

Remove the used film and insert a fresh roll.

Start with the film canister, pull out the leader, and fit it into the take-up spool.

Make sure the spool’s teeth grab the sprocket holes properly. Wind the film a little by hand to create tension before closing the camera.

Step 4: Close the camera while keeping tension on the film

Once the film is loaded, hold the bottom part of the camera as you close it.
If you don’t keep that pressure, the film might loosen and slip off the spool.
Use your thumb to hold it in place while snapping the body shut.

Step 5: Wind the film using a flathead screwdriver

After closing the camera, use a flathead screwdriver to wind the film. (Keep your thumb pressed on the bottom part to maintain tension when you insert the screwdriver.)

There’s a small slot at the bottom of the take-up spool where you can insert it and start turning. You’ll hear a clicking sound as you wind—don’t worry, that’s normal.

If you don’t hear any clicks, the film isn’t loaded correctly, so reopen it and try again while keeping tension on the spool.

When the clicking stops and you can’t turn the screwdriver anymore, your disposable camera is ready to shoot!

Sample Shots Taken with the Reused Disposable Camera

For this test, I loaded MARIX 800T film and shot a Halloween party last weekend.

Since it was inside a dark club, the backgrounds came out a bit underexposed,
but the overall look has that unique plastic-lens charm you can only get from a disposable camera.

The best part is—you can experiment with different ISO films or even try black-and-white film. In places like clubs, where carrying a big camera might draw attention, a disposable camera is the perfect choice.

Also, the flash is reusable if you replace the battery, so even though it’s called “disposable,” it’s actually an eco-friendly reusable camera.
If that sounds fun, give it a try!

Have you watched this video yet?

I uploaded a new video on YouTube, and honestly, it’s one of my favorites I’ve ever made.

To enjoy the 3D sound of Shinjuku’s streets, recorded with a binaural mic, I recommend watching it with earphones or headphones on🎧

And for my own motivation, if you like the video, I’d love to hear from you in the YouTube comments.
Tell me which scene you liked most or what you felt while watching. Anything is welcome. Thank you!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.

I just uploaded a new video on YouTube, and honestly, it’s one of my favorites I’ve ever made.

To enjoy the 3D sound of Shinjuku’s streets, recorded with a binaural mic, I recommend watching it with earphones or headphones on🎧

And for my own motivation, if you like the video, I’d love to hear from you in the YouTube comments.
Tell me which scene you liked most or what you felt while watching. Anything is welcome. Thank you!

Watch the video now →

30-Day Challenge: Progress Update

Staying consistent is really tough.

I’m proud of myself for keeping this newsletter going every week for a whole year,
but the 30-day challenge I announced last month—shooting photos every day and turning them into a zine—almost broke me within the first few days.

So, I decided to cheat a little (sorry!) and turn it into a project to archive the hundreds of old family photos I found at my grandmother’s house.
At first, I was posting the progress on Threads, but I eventually stopped midway.

On the other hand, Mia @mjaap, who joined this challenge with me—you’re amazing.
She’s been posting her 30-day progress on Threads every single day without missing one.
To show her some love and support, please follow Mia on Threads and cheer her on!

Follow Mia on Threads →

As for my own project, I’m currently scanning and digitizing the family photos,
and I plan to share more about the process here in this newsletter once it’s ready.

Pick of the Week: Instagram POST

Instagram post

Isn’t using a piece of cardboard as a book cover such a great idea?
I really want to try that myself🔥

That’s it for this week—just keeping it short.
See you next Tuesday!

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.