It is a great honor for me to assume my responsibilities as the new director of the Nara City Museum of Photography and Film.
　Photographs have become an even more intimate and indispensable part of our lives as digital devices and the internet have spread to become ubiquitous presences in the world. The evolution of digital photography technologies have also blurred the boundaries between image and photograph and between truth and fiction. I believe it is safe to say that the definition and the role of photography―as an artistic medium or as a tool to capture truth and reality?have undergone great changes since the dawn of photography in the early 19th century. Japan is home not only to many leading manufacturers of cameras, films and photographic papers, but also a unique and diverse photographic culture. The Nara City Museum of Photography and Film will continue to foster and celebrate this culture through exhibitions of works by Irie Taikichi and other groundbreaking Japanese photographers as well as the contemporary artists who continue to carry Japan’s photographic culture forward into the future. As the former capital and the origin of modern culture in Japan, the city of Nara possesses invaluable cultural assets, treasures and traditions. I would like to make use of this unique cultural potential and the museum’s position as the only photography museum in the Kansai region to operate this museum and promote photography culture in ways that are only possible here in Nara. I also aim to make the Nara City Museum of Photography and Film more inviting and accessible to the people of Nara and make full use of modern media technologies to share our activities with the world.

Hiroshi Onishi director of the Nara City Museum of Photography and Film