Hiroji Kubota, the only fully Japanese member of Magnum Photos, built a legendary career photographing places and events others never touched. From Nixon’s presidential campaign to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the fall of Saigon, and multiple trips to North Korea, his work spans the globe and history.
Kubota’s journey began with a degree in political science and a mentorship with Hiroshi Hamaya, Japan’s first Magnum member. He served as an assistant and translator for visiting Magnum photographers, absorbing their methods. They gifted him a Leica M3 and a copy of The Decisive Moment—a turning point that lit his path forward.
Friendship with Magnum icon André Kertész shaped his sensitivity and respect for subjects. His first published photos—tied to his thesis—led to assignments that propelled his career. Kubota credits his political background with deepening his understanding of global complexity.
His first trip to America, sponsored by Eliott Erwitt, led to years of photographing the U.S., including the civil rights movement, Black Panthers, and King’s speeches. Welcomed across racial lines, Kubota embraced his outsider perspective, saying he “used it to get access” with a smile. His Americana work culminated in From Sea to Shining Sea, and a later journey—700 days in a camper—marked the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.
Kubota was present for the fall of Saigon in 1975. He avoided photographing corpses, haunted by memories from WWII. Escaping with fellow journalists by clinging to helicopters, he described the chaos as unforgettable.
Between 1978 and the mid-1980s, he photographed every Chinese province—twice—resulting in hundreds of thousands of images and international exhibitions. Later, he documented famine, water shortages, and infant malnutrition across Asia, taking over 200,000 photos during a 1,000-day journey through China. These formed the basis for Out of the East and Can We Feed Ourselves.
One of the few to photograph North Korea over 40 years, he captured its leaders, people, and landscapes. In 1990, Kubota opened Magnum’s Tokyo office, raising $500,000 through an unusual portfolio sale.
Later in life, he turned his lens toward Japan from the sky, focusing on its island landscape for the Magnum project Home. He believes just one fishing boat can transform a landscape into a living image. Having taken over 5 million photos, he says: “Photography is the only reason I am living. Without it, I am useless.”