Critically acclaimed for his acute artistic sensibilities and closeness with his subjects, Akiyama said: “Although they don’t understand my language, I will talk to them with a smile, teach them the Japanese children’s game, and be with them. Then take photos quickly when the children don’t notice.”

Born in 1942 to a photographer father, Akiyama studied literature at Waseda University. He worked for the Associated Press and the Asahi Shimbun Photography Department before becoming a freelance photographer.

As a photojournalist, Akiyama reported on issues such as famine in India and depopulation on remote islands. In 1974, he participated in the group exhibit New Japanese Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with Masahisa Fukase and Daido Moriyama, among others.

Armed with a 6 x 6 dual-lens Rolleiflex camera, Akiyama created a body of work that unflinchingly captures his subjects from the “perspective of a traveler” in places such as New York, Indonesia, and China.

Aside from his subjects, Chinese children in the early 1980s, China’s social environment of that period is another highlight of the upcoming exhibition, according to Three Shadows.

Through viewing works selected from the third album of the Dear Old Daysseries, the audience is offered a chance to learn about how people worked and lived, what they wore, and what they did for fun four decades ago.

The exhibit runs through Oct 6.

If you go:

10 am-6 pm, closed on Mondays. Three Shadows Photography Art Center, 155 A Caochangdi, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6432-2663