I covered the Monster Yamaha-YART world endurance team at the Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Road Race held every year at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. The race is part of the Endurance World Championships. As the name implies, it is a race that lasts for eight continuous hours on a road course, competing to complete the most number of laps.

As the race is held in mid-summer, the racers have to not only battle against their rival teams but also contend with the heat. In this heat, the riders and mechanics suffer constant fatigue, and after a while, the engine noise starts to sound like screams. It is the extremely rigorous nature of this race that gives meaning to the quest for victory.

In this place where race professionals gather, I have photographed many battles and dramas. I am able to continue shooting without growing tired of such scenes because I can feel all the passion that permeates through everything that has to do with the race. I feel the aura of riders seeking only to ride faster than anyone else, the finely honed powers of observation of mechanics for whom there can be no room for error in creating the perfect machine, and the ever-explosive energy of the machines themselves. As a photographer, I throw myself into the middle of all this. The Suzuka 8 Hours is the ultimate way to finely hone the five senses.