OREANDA-NEWS. ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) opened ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE in the CI Plaza, a commercial facility situated next to ITOCHU’s Tokyo Head Office, in October 2012. The gallery was part of ITOCHU’s social contribution activities, with the aim of developing the future generation through art, contributing to the local community, and promoting both local and international art and culture.

A new exhibition entitled “Sachi Murai Photo Exhibition – FantaSea” will be held at ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE. This exhibition will show underwater photographs taken by Sachi Murai, a photographer who takes photographs under the sea around the world. The photographs for the exhibition were selected from among those that Murai has taken over the last 20 years. Through his photographs, Murai provides visitors with a sense of healing and shows them the dreamy world under water. Today, oceans around the world face a number of problems, such as marine pollution, a decrease in coral reef areas, and the overexploitation of fishery resources. The ultimate aim of the exhibition is to help preserve biodiversity, and it will express the mysterious power and beauty of the sea to let many people know the importance of protecting our “Only One Earth” and its environment.

Murai entered the world of photography after working as a diving instructor on a small island in Okinawa. He worked as a photographer for MARINE ART CENTER Co., Ltd., a publisher of magazines on diving, resorts, and other topics before going independent as a freelance photographer. He currently does a wide range of work, such as taking underwater photographs, photographs for resorts, and landscape photographs for mainly magazines and advertisements. He also writes photo essays. His primary goal is to “make people happy through photography,” and he continues to take photographs of happy moments through his own filter. In addition to taking photographs under the sea, he also takes photographs at different locations all around the world, and spends most of the year out in the field.