An exhibition of photographs taken by musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952–2023) during the 1980s, PHOTO RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, is on view at SAI, an art space in Shibuya, Tokyo, from October 17 through November 8, 2026.

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While performing and composing on the international stage, Sakamoto also carried a camera, documenting landscapes encountered on his travels, people he met in everyday life, and seemingly ordinary moments. The exhibition brings together photographs that offer a glimpse of the world through his own eyes.

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Curated by Shigeo Goto, an editor and art producer, with the cooperation of the Ryuichi Sakamoto Estate, the exhibition sheds light on a form of expression Sakamoto left behind beyond his music.

A World-Renowned Musician’s Camera Turned Toward Everyday Life

During the 1980s, Ryuichi Sakamoto was expanding his creative horizons in Japan and internationally through his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), his solo recordings, and film scores. Yet the photographs presented in this exhibition do not simply document the celebrated moments of his musical career.

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Landscapes encountered while traveling, people in unguarded moments, and fragments of everyday life. The photographs on display suggest an intimate gaze, one drawn naturally to whatever happened to be before him rather than solely to events of particular significance.

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Among the images are photographs of cats, suggesting that his lens was directed not only toward notable people or remarkable places, but also toward familiar presences in his immediate surroundings.

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We cannot determine from these photographs alone what taking pictures meant to Sakamoto. Yet they invite us to consider what caught his attention, and which moments he chose to preserve, in a space somewhat apart from his musical expression.

Five Polaroid Cameras Once Used by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Alongside the photographs, the exhibition presents five Polaroid cameras that Sakamoto actually used. The models on display are the One600, SX-70 LAND CAMERA, LAND CAMERA 360, EE33, and Spirit 600.

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Among them, the folding SX-70 LAND CAMERA, introduced in the 1970s, and the earlier-generation LAND CAMERA 360 are particularly compelling as objects that reflect the history of Polaroid photography.

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The EE33, meanwhile, stands out for its distinctive box-shaped body and separate viewfinder. The markings and controls arranged around its lens offer a glimpse into an era of industrial design quite different from that of contemporary instant cameras.

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These cameras are not only tools once held by Sakamoto himself, but also objects that embody photographic technology and industrial design from different periods.

Polaroid is one of the most recognizable forms of instant photography, allowing an image to emerge shortly after the shutter is released. The act of taking a photograph and watching it develop become part of a single experience, while each print carries its own colors, textures, and elements of chance.

During the 1970s and 1980s, artists and photographers including Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, and Cy Twombly embraced Polaroid as a medium of artistic expression.

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Sakamoto, too, used the medium to capture landscapes, people, and fleeting moments of light in everyday life. Standing before the five cameras on display, one is reminded not only of the finished photographs but also of the physical act of Sakamoto raising a camera and pressing the shutter.

A Single Photograph: Time, Chance, and the Unrepeatable Moment

One defining characteristic of Polaroid photography is that an individual image emerges directly, without the need for a separate negative.

In an era before digital cameras made it commonplace to review a photograph immediately and take another as often as desired, the light and circumstances of a particular moment were captured with the distinctive colors and textures of instant film.

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This sense of singularity gives a photograph a significance beyond that of a simple record. Even when photographing the same person or place, the light, movement, and distance between photographer and subject can produce an entirely different image.

The exhibition allows us to encounter the world Sakamoto observed during the 1980s through the particular material qualities of these photographs.

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Music unfolds through time, while photography preserves a moment within it. The two forms cannot simply be equated. Yet looking at the traces of Sakamoto’s creative life left through different media offers another way of approaching the breadth of his artistic expression.

A Photobook with 120 Colors: The Experience of Editing and Holding Photographs

To coincide with the exhibition, the photobook PHOTO RYUICHI SAKAMOTO is available for advance purchase at SAI.

The publication brings together photographs Sakamoto took during the 1980s in two volumes, Polaroid and Snapshots. Conceived and edited by Shigeo Goto and Norika Sora, designed by Shuzo Hayashi, and published by Little More, the photobook presents his visual archive in a carefully considered physical form.

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Particularly noteworthy is its design. The two volumes are housed in a special case featuring randomly combined selections from 120 colors of NT Rasha, a fine paper produced by Takeo. Each copy therefore has its own distinctive combination of colors.

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There is an intriguing parallel between the individuality of each Polaroid photograph and the variations created through the photobook’s color combinations. Both invite us to consider the roles of chance and uniqueness in the experience of an image.

Seeing photographs in an exhibition space and holding them as part of an edited book are two different experiences. Even the same photograph can take on a different presence depending on how it is encountered.

Through the selection and sequencing of images, paper, color, and bookmaking, this publication offers another way of engaging with the visual records Sakamoto left behind.

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Time, Preserved Beyond Music

Ryuichi Sakamoto left an extraordinary body of work as an internationally renowned musician. Alongside that creative life, he also carried a camera, turning his attention toward the landscapes, people, and ordinary moments around him.

The photographs in this exhibition are more than documents illustrating the achievements of a celebrated composer. Each image preserves something of the world encountered by Sakamoto as an individual living through the 1980s.

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The five Polaroid cameras he once used invite us to imagine how those moments of observation became photographs.

Here, we encounter Sakamoto at a slightly different distance from the figure we know through his music. Through the quiet medium of photography, PHOTO RYUICHI SAKAMOTO offers an opportunity to experience another dimension of the time he lived.