COURTESY BRIAN SATO Maple leaves decorate a stone pathway in Kyoto, Japan.

Uniquely Japan

Photographer Brian Sato has traveled to Japan about 30 times in the past 15 years. And wherever he goes, so goes his camera. So he undoubtedly had to sift through hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of shots before culling the dozen or so he compiled for our "Portfolio" pages. Sato's work, comprising visits to the Kansai region of Japan from 2004 to 2006, will run over two weeks.

In the Kansai area, which covers Kobe, Himeji and Kyoto, "it's pretty difficult not to make postcard-type images," Sato says, and indeed, his shots capture the picturesque region in all its traditional glory. Photographs taken in Kyoto during the autumn season are gorgeous with red leaves decorating the grounds of traditional old structures, conveying an aesthetic that's uniquely Japanese.

"I'm not quite sure how much of my attraction ... for the Japanese aesthetic necessarily comes from an upbringing that stressed Japanese values and beliefs," he says, mentioning that one of his parents is from Japan. "Who knows where it comes from, but suffice it to say that after traveling to Japan, I just knew that I would be able to make images there that would satisfy me, aesthetically speaking."

COURTESY BRIAN SATO Commuters catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) at the station in Yokohama, the second-largest city in the country after Tokyo. Passengers aboard the train can make the trip from Yokohama to Tokyo in less than 30 minutes.

COURTESY BRIAN SATO Students walk home from a day of school in Kobe, Japan.

COURTESY BRIAN SATO "Momiji" (maple trees) line the streets of Kyoto, Japan.

COURTESY BRIAN SATO A tree nearly touches the surface of a pond in a Tokyo park.