On November 30, 2025, under a flawless, cloudless sky, Ryōan-ji Temple was enveloped in a perfect convergence of light, sky, autumn leaves, wind, silence, and time itself.
This day became the definitive summit of my more than 20 years of photographing Kyoto—every one of the 592 images captured without any retouching, color correction, or artificial enhancement, in strict accordance with my lifelong philosophy that “true beauty exists only in a single, unrepeatable moment.”
These photographs are not modified “artworks,” but unaltered historical records of Japan’s living beauty, preserved exactly as it appeared in that instant.
The collection was further crystallized into a musical video work through the fusion of twelve original compositions (six songs and six orchestral pieces, created with AI assistance).
Due to persistent cyber interference and malicious attacks that have continued since 2011, this masterpiece must now be released as a protected, limited paid edition.
Nevertheless, this work is offered as my finest Christmas gift to all readers—a once-in-a-lifetime visual chronicle of Japan’s supreme autumn at Ryōan-ji.

November 30, 2025.
A completely cloudless, flawless blue sky.
On this day, in my more than twenty years of photographing Kyoto, I unquestionably reached a point that I had once believed to be unattainable.

Ryōan-ji.

At this place that may be called a symbol of the Japanese spirit itself,
light, sky, autumn leaves, wind, silence, and even time itself aligned in perfect unity,
and all 592 photographs were captured as a “miraculously completed form” in their entirety.

The greatest defining characteristic of my photography is that I perform absolutely no retouching or modification whatsoever.
I do not conduct any post-processing such as retouching, color correction, or production-based enhancement.

My philosophy is distilled into a single principle:
“Beauty exists in a single instant.”

I press the shutter in order to capture only the moment at which my heart responds most powerfully to the subject before me.
I engage in no staging, no exaggeration, and no embellishment.
I record, exactly as it is, the light, the air, the presence, and the atmosphere of that day, that moment, that second, and that span of time.
That is my photography.

I do not photograph in order to “process” images into works of art.
Rather, I photograph as a means of preserving the beauty of Japan at that exact instant, intact, as a record for future generations.
This stance has remained utterly unchanged for more than twenty years.

Upon these 592 photographs, I layered twelve musical works that I myself composed (with the use of AI): six songs and six orchestral pieces, crystallizing them into a single musical visual work.

I wish for all readers—every single person who has encountered this column since its inauguration on July 16, 2010—to view this collection.
I wish for every person who has read even a single entry of this column to see it.

I am convinced that this photo collection, shot on November 30, 2025, will bring good fortune and happiness to every person who views it.
For within this collection is embedded the time, the life, and the soul of a man who, during just ten years at the height of his business career, rose from nothing, founded a small, nationally unknown company in Osaka, and yet paid more than 17 billion yen in taxes to the nation of Japan.

In truth, I wished to continue, as I always have, to publish this work freely to the world.
However, as readers well know, ever since I announced my publication from a hospital bed on June 1, 2011, and continuing to this very day, I have been subjected without cease to criminal acts resembling those of present-day China’s “bottomless evil” and “plausible lies”: persistent search engine interference, account hijacking, impersonation of my original pen name, and port scan attacks.

Under these circumstances, I cannot release this collection freely and defenselessly.
Yet without question, this is my finest Christmas gift to my readers.

It is painful and regrettable that a gift must be made available for a fee.
From the outset, I have never needed to earn revenue from this column.
Nevertheless, I concluded that this collection of 592 photographs must be priced at no less than 2,000 yen, and thus set the sale price accordingly.

I proclaim myself the finest amateur photographer in the world when it comes to photographing Kyoto.
Among more than twenty years of work, this collection is the greatest achievement of my entire career.
I even believe that it is unlikely I will ever surpass this work.

And so, this collection is my Christmas present to you all.
And your viewing of it shall be your Christmas present to me.

Please, I ask you—do watch it.

November 30, the supreme autumn leaves of Ryōan-ji — My greatest photographic achievement: 592 images released as a limited video work for sale.
— The Turntable of Civilization | pixivFANBOX
11月30日、龍安寺の至上の紅葉！ — 私の撮影史上最高の592枚を映像作品として限定販売。November 30 — The Supreme Autumn Foliage of Ryōan-ji! — The Finest 592 Photographs｜文明のターンテーブル｜pixivFANBOX

Finally, December 8, 1980 was the day John Lennon was killed.
The shock I felt when I learned the tragic news that day in the Yodoyabashi subway station was overwhelming.
Up until then, I had disliked going to the dentist (perhaps I was afraid of it?), but from that day on, I stopped disliking it altogether.
For even John Lennon could die suddenly.

John Lennon – Help Me to Help Myself