A little bit about me, I am David Kakuei Chao and I am a half Japanese and half Chinese American born and raised between San Francisco and Kobe, Japan.
I studied Product Design in college, and photography became a big passion. I started off learning in the school darkroom in an intro photography class, and then spent 2 years serving as a lab assistant and teaching other students. I feel I am still exploring all the different ways film and cameras can be used to capture what I love.
My projects have all revolved around shooting in Japan. For me the biggest aspect is being both an insider and outsider gives me a unique perspective. I spent years growing up culturally between Japan and the US, all while learning Chinese in a bilingual school. Thus, I know enough about the inner thinking and culture to recognize certain behaviors. But at the same time, I am very much American and Chinese, and that gives me foresight into being able to view scenes or actions taken from an outsider’s perspective.