Hey, I'm Masa!
I'm a photographer based in Tokyo — but honestly, I'll go just about anywhere you want me to be. Japan, overseas, wherever there's a moment worth keeping.
This has never felt like a "photo service" to me. I just really love taking photos, and having conversations to get to know people. I love exploring places I've never been, and taking friends to the beautiful places I know. Plus, I have a LOT of energy (and stamina!) — so being a photographer is the perfect job for me.
A little about me
The things I love, outside of work.
That's Nao — my wife, and my teammate in everything I do.
This is how I see her. The photos I take of her might just be my favorite I've ever made.
And this is basketball — I love it just as much as I love photography.
I'm a lucky guy. My life is full of wonderful people, and they're what make it so much fun.
My journey
Kobe, California, Tokyo — and how I ended up here.
Oregon & California
Leaving home at 17
I grew up in Kobe, and lived in Japan through high school. When I was 17, I moved to the U.S. — first to a high school in Oregon, then on to university near San Francisco.
Those years abroad shaped who I am. Beyond the English, meeting people from so many different cultures taught me something I still carry with me: my "normal" isn't everyone's normal. So when someone sees the world differently, I don't pull away — I try to understand why, and grow from it. It was also when I first picked up a camera. Photography became my way to express myself.
University near San Francisco — where so much of who I am today began.
Tokyo
Meeting Lovegraph
Back in Japan, I found a company called Lovegraph — a service that sends photographers out to shoot couples and families on location. That one meeting changed the course of my life.
I started as a project manager, running their photography school, Lovegraph Academy, and a community of more than 1,500 professional photographers. Around the same time, photography grew from a hobby into my work — I trained, shot couples on weekends while working weekdays, and slowly a real career took shape.
Weekdays at the Lovegraph office.
Weekends behind the camera — where I feel most myself.
2023 — now
Going full-time
Then in 2023, I made the leap — I left my job to become a full-time photographer. Since then, I've been making my living doing work that truly feels like my calling. Honestly? These are the happiest days of my life.
And in 2024, out of more than 1,500 photographers, I was named Best Lovegrapher — an honor given to just one person a year, as the face of Lovegraph.
More than a job, Lovegraph taught me how much it matters to wish for someone else's happiness, and to work for it — I've never known another company that lives that out so fully. It's the heart of everything I do now. So I still shoot proudly as a part of Lovegraph, hoping that the more I pour into this, the more this company I love can keep growing too.
Best Lovegrapher 2024 — one of the proudest days of my life.
