JFA Hall of Fame Inductee

IMAI Kyoji

Inductees Recommended by the Committee (Special Selection)
Inducted into the 14th Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2017

Born in Niigata on 11 January 1946

Imai started to take football photographs as a freelance photographer in the 1970s. His works have been published in various media, including Soccer Magazine (published by Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd), contributing to the rise in popularity of football among the general public in Japan. He is a pioneer and a leading expert of football photography in Japan.

After graduating from Tokyo Polytechnic University, Imai started out his career as an assistant photographer prior to working as a freelance advertisement photographer. He was later approached by Soccer Magazine, which led him to his involvement with football. In 1972, Imai had a chance to work on a photo shoot of a match between the Japan National Team and Santos FC (Brazil), after which his career as a football photographer took off.

Imai has been mainly taking photos of the Japan National Teams and domestic leagues, and has engaged in field research at every FIFA World Cup since the 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain. During the 1970s and 1980s when Japanese football was in the doldrums, he went along on tournaments and matches abroad with the national teams and youth teams as a solo photographer. Since the teams were understaffed, he helped the teams and had communication with the players. In addition to taking photos, Imai also wrote field reports himself, which were sole source of information for football fans back then.

In 1985, Imai established STUDIO AUPA Co., Ltd. He continues to nurture and educate football photographers, while working as an official photographer of J.League’s JEF United Ichihara Chiba.

As a keen photographer, Imai has bridged the gap between top-notch football teams and their fans for the past half century, and has greatly contributed to the development of football in Japan.

• 
  YAMAGUCHI Yoshitada
• OCHIAI Hiroshi