About shashasha

Founded in Tokyo in 2012, shashasha is a specialist online bookstore focused entirely on photobooks and art books. With a catalogue that spans new releases, self-published editions, and rare or out-of-print gems, the company draws on its Japan-based vantage point to highlight artists and publishers from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas.

Behind shashasha is a unique leadership pairing: Mark Pearson, a British national (born 1960) who relocated to Japan in 1981 and previously founded ZEN Foto Gallery, and Hiroshi Onishi, a Tokyo-born economics graduate and art-book entrepreneur. Together they have steered the company’s mission to curate with care rather than volume.

Operating from Shibuya, Tokyo, shashasha buys items directly from artists and publishers and maintains open channels for new inquiries and collaborations. Its ethos is rooted in deep respect for the photobook medium: treating each work as part of a larger cultural conversation about photography, art and the book as object. (Website, Instagram)

Blog

Shingo Kanagawa Lived With 3 Artists For 5 Years. A Bright Room Became A Photograph Of Family Without Fixed Labels

Family does not always begin with relatives. Sometimes it begins with people who decide to share a home, daily tasks, private space, and time. Photography Book Spotlight

Short Hope: How Keizo Motoda Found Dignity, Freedom, and Human Connection in Kamagasaki

Kamagasaki gave Keizo Motoda a second chance. He first came to this Osaka neighborhood in the 1990s, when he was still a photography student. Photography Book Spotlight

Can Family Photography Become Real Art? Eri Morita’s Moon Rainbow Explores What to Keep, What to Lose, and Why It Matters

Can family photos become meaningful art beyond memory? Most of them stay personal and never go further. Photography Book Spotlight

What Happens When You Remove The Face From A Portrait And Force The Viewer To Fill The Gap

These portraits ask who we become when seen. Iwauko Murakami’s Known Unknown begins with a quiet break in recognition. Photography Book Spotlight

Chihiro Kihara Was Rejected by a Temple, So She Walked a 5,600m Pilgrimage to Find Out What Faith Really Means

The temple said no, so the mountain answered. This interview is about Chihiro Kihara and her book Wonderful Circuit, and why a rejection pushed her into a real pilgrimage at extreme altitude. Photography Book Spotlight

From News Photography to Long Exposures: How Shintaro Sato Trained His Eye to Find Beauty in Pure Function

Can discipline from news photography reshape how you see cities? This article is about how news photography trains the eye before it trains expression. Photography Book Spotlight

What Lies Under the Blue Tarps of Japan? Norio Kobayashi on Chance, Intuition, and 30 Years of Looking

Why photograph blue tarps for 30 years? Japanese Blue follows Norio Kobayashi’s long attention to temporary blue sheets spread across Japan. Photography Book Spotlight

Why Kentaro Kumon Believes Nothing Is Ordinary Once You Learn How to Look

Photography begins long before you press the shutter. For Kentaro Kumon, photography starts with time, walking, and learning a place before taking pictures. Photography Book Spotlight

Night Walks in Tama New Town: Sakaguchi Tomoyuki’s GOING HOME

Every night, Sakaguchi Tomoyuki waited at empty intersections. He stood there with a tripod, often for hours, in the quiet streets of Tama New Town. Photography Book Spotlight

Tokyo From 1,500 Feet: How Yoichi Yoshinaga Finds Human Stories in the City’s Railways and Rooftops

Tokyo looks different when you stop walking and start flying. Yoichi Yoshinaga photographs the city from small planes and helicopters, high above the streets. Photography Book Spotlight

‘Roadside Lights’ in the Blizzard: Eiji Ohashi’s Journey Through Japan’s Frozen Nights

One winter night, a vending machine guided Eiji Ohashi to safety from a blizzard. What was once just a bright object on the roadside became a symbol of warmth, survival, and human emotion. Photography Book Spotlight

Mac Stone Spent 20 Years Photographing the American Southeast. His Book Shows Why It May Be America’s Most Overlooked Wilderness

The American Southeast is not empty swamp. For Mac Stone, it is a place of ancient forests, living waters, orchids, alligators, salamanders, turtles, springs, rivers, and species many people never hear about. Photography Book Spotlight

Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj’s Pasqyra e Lëndësh Shows How Exile Turns Home Into A Fragmented Memory

What happens when home becomes inherited memory? For Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj, this question began with Albania, a place she left very young and later returned to as both familiar and foreign. Interviews

In Plain Sight: How Jens Krauer Photographed The Quiet Human Stories Hidden Inside Crowded Cities

Street photography begins when most people stop looking. For Jens Krauer, the street is not only a place of movement, noise, and strangers passing each other. Photography Book Spotlight