Handsome and collectible, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains reproductions printed in superb duotone and/or color, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography.There are some adjectives one hesitates to use: exceptional and unclassifiable are among them. Nonetheless, they apply to Nobuyoshi Araki, who has turned photography into the very essence of his existence. Prolific to an astonishing degree, he has spent over thirty years building up an "autobiophotography" that displays the fundamentals of his daily life without modesty or restraint. Fascinated by women and by the city--particularly Tokyo, which he documents in all its frenetic moods--he is the leader in a new school and the role model for a younger generation that goes beyond aesthetics to seek the truth in every moment.