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Issue One | Shimabara, Japan

<div class="post_body"> <p>Hey there! My name is <a href="http://www.hanalou.com">Hannah</a>, I&rsquo;m the in-house designer at Photoworks, as well as a photographer and <a href="http://www.munbeibi.com">sculptor</a>. I recently returned from a month-long trip to Japan to visit family and a few artists. I brought my trusty Yashica D and 20 rolls of Kodak Portra 160 to document my journeys.</p> <p>I&rsquo;ll be sharing some images and talking about the trip within the next few journal entries to inaugurate the new Photoworks website!</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/blog/tumblr_oeyibnqPv31vipwq5o1_1280.jpg" style="width: 450px; height: 450px; margin: 10px;" /></p> <p>These images are from 3 days I spent in Shimabara, Kyushu visiting the sculptor Senri Nojima. He is known for his smooth, almost cream-like creations which are regularly shown in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagasaki. He works out of his father&rsquo;s former construction company&rsquo;s warehouse, nestled under the active volcano Unzen that towers over Shimabara (thankfully it&rsquo;s not supposed to erupt again until 2196). He lives there with his wife, Martha, a teacher and ceramicist originally from San Francisco.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/blog/tumblr_oeyibnqPv31vipwq5o5_1280.jpg" style="width: 450px; height: 443px; margin: 10px;" /></p> <p>Shimabara was still hot and humid when I was there in late September, and is surrounded by a rather chaotic environment with earthquakes, typhoons and the always-looming <span class="st">雲仙岳 Unzen-dake. Senri&#39;s family has been in Shimabara for generations; when the volcano last erupted in 1991 their family home (as well as many others) had to be relocated to a safer location, leaving an abandoned village at the base of Unzen.</span> Recently the town across the bay, Kumamoto, was rocked by a massive earthquake that left a large wake of destruction. I took the ferry from Kumamoto to Shimabara and the damage is still lingering with collapsed bathrooms and patched-together walkways.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/blog/tumblr_oeyibnqPv31vipwq5o4_1280.jpg" style="margin: 10px; width: 450px; height: 450px;" /></p> <p>With chirping crickets and sudden thunderstorms, giant green leaves and gentle waters, the entire Kyushu area is so beautiful - and so peaceful when it&#39;s quiet - I can see why the old families don&#39;t move away, despite the ominously shifting earth below and clouds above.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/blog/tumblr_ofmbmab5jb1vipwq5o2_540.jpg" style="margin: 10px; width: 450px; height: 450px;" /></p> </div>