Itami Go was born in 1976 in Tokushima, Japan. Books of his photographs include this year’s model and photocopy (both published by Rondade), with a new collection of his work scheduled to be published by Rondade in November 2022.

Shimizu Yuki was born in Chiba in 1984, and graduated from the Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences, Musashino Art University. She takes landscape photographs and writes stories while researching local history and folklore. She won the 1_WALL Grand Prize for Photography in 2011. She participated in the exhibition Summer Vacation at a Certain Art Museum at the Chiba City Museum of Art in 2022, and held a solo exhibition, Half Dreaming Glass, at PGI. Shimizu began writing novels in 2018, and won the R-18 Literary Award from Shinchosha Publishing Co. Her novel Hanazakari no isu [A festooned chair] (Shueisha) was published in 2022.

Kimura Kazuhei was born in Fukushima in 1993. He has continued to produce photography while working in the fields of fashion, film, and advertising. He won the 19th 1_WALL Photography Award Judges’ Encouragement Prize (selected by Himeno Kimi). His solo exhibitions include Stones and Peaches (Roll, 2022) and The Other Side of the Window (Book and Sons, 2020). Books of photographs include Wing Curtain and Lighthouse (both published by aptp) and The Other Side of the Window (AKAAKA Art Publishing Inc.)

Homura Hiroshi is a tanka poet born in Hokkaido in 1962. He debuted with the tanka collection Syndicate in 1990. In addition to tanka, he also writes essays, reviews, and picture books and is a translator. His books include Tegamima mami, natsu no hikkoshi (Usagi zure), Suichu yokusen enjochu, and Noraneko o sonkei shita hi. Awards include the 2008 Ito Sei Prize, the Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention for Interactive Art, the 2017 Kodansha Essay Award, and the 2018 Wakayama Bokusui Prize.

Horimoto Yuki is a haiku poet born in Wakayama in 1974. He presides over Sokai, a haiku association, serves as an adjunct instructor at Nishogakusha University, and judged haiku poems for NHK Haiku in FY 2022. He won the 36th Association of Haiku Poets New Poet Prize for his haiku collection Kumano mandala. A prolific writer, he has published numerous books, including the haiku collection Ichizoku; Geinin to haijin co-authored with Naoki Matayoshi; and Tanka to haiku no gojuban shobu co-authored with Hiroshi Homura. His novel Sakuragi An, haiku hajimete mimashita was dramatized on television, starring actress Hirose Suzu, in February 2021. 

Hachikai Mimi, born in 1974 in Kanagawa, is a poet and professor at Rikkyo University College of Arts. Her book of poems Ima ni mo uruotteiku jinchi (published in English as The Quickening Field) won the Nakahara Chuya Prize, Kuu mono wa kuwareru yoru won the 56th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists, and Kao o arau mizu won the 7th Ayukawa Nobuo Prize. Other publications include the book of poems Kakusu ha, the essay collection Kujaku no me ga miteru, the book of criticism Cho-Mai-Yomi, and the picture book Ukiwa neko (illustrations by Makino Chiho).