Graham Thomas

Graham Thomas FRSA is British-born, and educated in Oxford and at Goldsmiths College, London - where he shared studio space with many a YBA without absorbing their talent. Fortunately, over time he became a reasonably competent writer and photographer, predominantly focussed on themes of travel and the association of places with their history.His essays, columns and photographs first began to appear in newspapers and magazines in the UK, and then his work started to appear on TV and radio with broadcasters such as the BBC. More recently he has been featured a number of times on NHK, Japan's public TV station, and a documentary of his daily life was broadcast on Fuji TV.Extremes: Contradictions in Contemporary Japan, his first book, took modern day Japan as a subject, looking at the contradictions across society while painting a portrait of the country. This gained encouraging reviews in The Times in England, the Daily Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun in Japan, and various international media such as Time Out. This led to many books being published in both analogue and e- formats. As he says, 'I like the e-format because they are ecologically more friendly and when it comes to photograhy it means that the books are more readily available worldwide.'He is also an independent film producer, and has recently produced two films which were released in 2020: Eve, a thriller; and Philophobia, a coming of age story. The latter has performed particularly well on the film festival circuit. Both are available on digital streaming platforms. He also admits a weakness when it comes to James Bond, and has written a book about Fleming, Bond and Connery and their connection with Japan. He is an peripatetic citizen of the world having lived in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore, while over the last twenty years he has been living in Japan, where he built a house with his wife, family, and a 90 year old carpenter.