I am strongly attracted to plants I come across during my daily routine. They do not have to be beautiful. They may be growing from the sidewalk, vines on a wall, or even wilting plants in a planter.

I live in urban Tokyo, where there are no forests or large trees that you would normally expect when thinking about the wilderness. However, the small plants that were potted by people have the same presence as large trees to me. Leaves grow naturally, coming to form for a practical function, reaching up to the sky for light as the roots stretch into the ground in search of water.

I find monochrome photography to be the best format to represent the beautiful details and contrast of the plants. I recalled seeing a simulation of the effects of civilization. It showed how mankind had destroyed the world’s natural environment over a period of several thousand years, yet if man became extinct it would take just decades for nature to overgrow the world again.

Nature is sacrificed for the benefit of the world’s creatures. When I visit regional cities in Japan, where the population is declining, emerging Southeast Asian urban cities that are developing at a remarkable pace, ancient cities in Europe that have been left undeveloped, and experience the balances of the developments compared to Tokyo, it is difficult to answer how much of nature human beings should be allowed to sacrifice.

I feel like the greenery in city is telling me that we should not take for granted the peace we feel from the nature we experience in the city, and avoid allowing ourselves to move in the direction of excessive environmental destructio