Q. Sakamaki Takes Japan

Last week, New York-based Japanese photographer Q. Sakamaki hosted _The New Yorker’s Instagram feed. Photographing during a visit to Japan, Sakamaki provided a pocket-size window into life all over the country, from daily commutes in Tokyo to the surf culture along the coast of the Sagami Bay, in central Japan. On this trip, Sakamaki, whose work generally has an international-affairs focus, documented his first trip in over two decades to his family’s home town, in the rural province of Mikawa.

Sakamaki took these pictures using the Hipstamatic app on his phone: “Logistically speaking, shooting with Hipstamatic is the same as shooting film: I decide which film and lens I will use before I take a photo,” Sakamaki said, adding that that Instagram has been a source of inspiration in the past year, exposing him to work that he wouldn’t encounter otherwise, as well as providing him with an outlet for sharing his more experimental photographs.