The Norse Azure

Noriyoshi KISHIKAWA ... Profile

Noriyoshi KISHIKAWA was born in 1945 in Tokyo, Japan. Right after graduating from Tama Art College, he started his career as a professional photographer.
In the 1970's, he moved to Europe where he produced his masterpieces of The Norse Azure. Since his return to Japan in 1980, he has contributed to the promotion of Scandinavian cultures which was less widely-known amongst Japanese people.
The Norse Azure was first presented at Kodak Photo Salon in Tokyo in Feb.1981. Due to its great success, it was held again at the same photo salon in Jun.1984. And in Nov.1985, the Norse Azure was featured in a photo magazine "Zoom."
Three years later, when there was held a Scandinavian Fair in Tokyo in Oct.1987, his private exhibition was opened extensively as a part of the event and was shown on TV. To his honour, the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav visited his exhibition.
Now, KISHIKAWA has his own studio in the centre of Tokyo and works in a variety of fields ranging from magazines to advertising. He also photographs celebrities such as Ines de la Fressange for Marie Claire Japon (1997) and Takeshi Kitano for GQ Japan (1999).

This is a little off the track, but besides being a photographer, KISHIKAWA is also a great chef. He is such a gourmet that he has been learning traditional cooking from local people not only in Scandinavian countries but all over the world. There are recently many people who visit his studio even more for his cuisine!
In Jan.1996, KISHIKAWA was featured on the Japanese national TV channel NHK's popular cooking programme to introduce some of the delicious Scandinavian food he learned to appreciate in the countries; that is Gravlax (marinated salmon with dill), Lax Pudding (salmon and potato pudding), creamed potatoes, grilled salmon skin with butter and Swedish hot spicy cocktail.