Kazuaki Kiriya

Kazuaki Kiriya (紀里谷 和明, Kiriya Kazuaki), born April 20, 1968 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese photographer and director of films and music videos. His birth name is Kazuhiro Iwashita (岩下 和裕, Iwashita Kazuhiro). He is represented by Paradigm Agency.

Early life and career

In 1983, in his second year of junior high school, he moved to the United States. He attended Cambridge High School and Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts and then the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design. At first, as a student, he aimed to enter the business world, but through the experience of seeing others' pleasure when he communicated through drawing at times when his English failed him, he came to be more oriented toward the world of art. Beginning in 1994, he became involved in designing album covers, photography, and directing music videos for many recording artists including Hikaru Utada, SMAP, The Back Horn, Mr. Children, Misia, Southern All Stars, GLAY, and Ayumi Hamasaki.