Beyond beautiful landscapes, the "present moment" of Earth.

In an age of advancing climate change and environmental destruction, the relationship between our lives and nature is reaching a major turning point.

Nature photographer Yosuke Kashiwakura has gone beyond mere beauty,
and has captured in his photographs the challenges facing Earth and the signs of change.

This page offers an opportunity, through Kashiwakura's works,
to re-examine the diverse expressions of nature and the current state of the environment behind them.

The "present" state of the Earth, hidden behind beautiful scenery.

In an age of advancing climate change and environmental destruction, the relationship between our lives and nature is at a major turning point.

Nature photographer Yosuke Kashiwakura has captured not just the beauty of nature, but also the challenges facing the Earth and the signs of change within it, in his photographs.

This page offers an opportunity to re-examine the diverse expressions of nature and the current state of the environment behind them, through Kashiwakura's works.

The towns at the foot of the European Alps, the huts standing in the Patagonian plains, the stargazing towns of New Zealand. Each time I took photographs, I thought, "Someday, I want to live in a beautiful landscape." When I was past the midpoint of my life, I unexpectedly stumbled upon Rebun Island. I never imagined that such a captivating landscape, one that I instantly fell in love with, could be found at the northernmost tip of Japan. From the cape's observatory, I looked down at a small settlement, wondering if there might be any vacant houses. A search revealed just one: a white, single-story house where a teacher once lived. To my own surprise, I acted with remarkable speed, immediately arranging for its transfer.

Rebun Island is known as "the island of flowers," with alpine plants blooming even by the roadside. The rich seas support a thriving fishing industry for sea urchins and Rishiri kombu. When I took over the vacant house, I was renovating it while filming the sea urchin shucking process and the island's endemic species, Rebun Atsumorisou (lady's slipper orchid). With few trees and endless rolling hills, the unique landscape might even resemble Scandinavia. The northern island, where the wind blows through, offered a cool refuge, a world apart from the increasingly hot Honshu.

I don't know how many years it will take to complete. But I was simply happy with the days spent not just taking photos, but cutting grass, carrying wood, and dreaming with the islanders. I want to gradually give shape to the island's charms that no one has yet noticed. Just as fish return when the river is cleaned, stars return when the lights are turned off. Someday, I'm thinking of giving this northernmost grassland a name related to the stars.

He vigorously photographs nature-related themes both in Japan and abroad. Focusing on the rehabilitation of orangutans living in areas where civilization and wilderness collide, he published "Back to the Wild: Orangutans Who Lost Their Forests," a photo collection that took 15 years to produce. He held a touring exhibition titled "Orangutans and the Green Tsunami" at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Ecorin Village, and Maruyama Zoo. His works have been exhibited at the "MOVING PICTURES Exhibition" organized by the BOS Foundation, the world's largest primate conservation support organization, as well as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in the US, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has won awards such as the LensCulture Earth Awards, the National Geographic International Photo Contest, and Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and received the Monochrome Photography Awards / Landscape Photographer of the Year. He also serves as a judge for the Monochrome Photography Awards. In 2025, he launched an environmental photography project titled "Endless."