SACHIKO SAITO’S “Not now but one day” NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDER!

06/20/2025

We are now accepting orders for Sachiko Saito’s artist book “Not now but one day”.

©︎Sachiko Saito / Not now but one day

This work focuses on the Kurdish community living in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. In 2018, Saito first became aware of the existence of Kurds in Japan after becoming concerned about the country’s extremely low refugee acceptance rate. Initially perceiving them simply as “Kurdish refugees,” her understanding deepened as she encountered Kurdish individuals living in Kawaguchi and built relationships through photography. Through this engagement, she came to witness both the richness of their culture and the complexity of their lived realities, and continued to document their lives over time.
From 2020, Saito developed the project under the mentorship of Yumi Goto at Reminders Photography Stronghold. In 2022, she participated in the “PHOTOBOOK AS OBJECT” workshop, which further pushed the work toward book form. After much trial and error, the artist book Not now but one day has finally taken shape. This special edition of 93 copies was created in reference to the year 1993—the year when the longest-residing Kurdish man featured in the work first came to Japan. Alongside photographs, the book delicately weaves together fragments of words and events Saito has encountered throughout her journey.

Pre-orders for the book will begin on June 20—World Refugee Day—and copies will also be available for viewing and purchase at the exhibition venue during the show.

We are also planning to hold a related exhibition, Sachiko Saito Photo Exhibition “Not now but one day”, from June 28 to July 6, 2025.

As you turn each page, time gently unfolds, inviting you to face the realities of Kurdish people living in Japan.

We hope you will take a moment to hold this special book in your hands and experience it for yourself.

“Not now but one day”

In Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, there is a Kurdish community made up of people who came to Japan from Turkey. Many of them have applied for refugee status in Japan, but the rate of approval is extremely low. To date, only one Kurdish person has been granted refugee status—only after a long legal battle. Most live their daily lives under precarious circumstances, either on provisional visas granted during the application process or under temporary release (karihōmen) from immigration detention.
Those on temporary release have no official residency status, are prohibited from working, and face strict limitations on their freedom of movement. Even children born and raised in Japan under these circumstances are subject to the same restrictions. And yet, the reasons they cannot return to Turkey are deep, complex, and urgent.
In 2024, Japan fully enacted a revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act that imposes even harsher conditions on asylum seekers. The societal gaze toward those who have come seeking protection has grown colder.
Today in Japan, many people are left behind in a state of prolonged “temporariness,” living day by day with no clear future in sight.
The title of this project, Not now but one day, comes from a Turkish phrase—Bugün değil ama elbet bir gün—written in a notebook by a young man I photographed with an instant camera. “Not now, but one day. So keep going.” With these words in his heart, he continues to live each day.
Suspended between despair and hope, with no choice but to keep going, many live in this society bearing emotions too complex for words. Sometimes they can’t keep going; sometimes they live moment to moment. Witnessing such vulnerability, fragility, and humanity, I came to feel a deep desire to portray their layered, multifaceted realities through photography—with care and attention.
As I met Kurdish people living in Japan, listened to their voices, and spent time with them in their everyday lives, I began to see not only the reality of Japan’s immigration system but also the personal memories and emotions that lie behind it.
Through this project, I hope to shed light on both.
I also hope this work can serve as a starting point—for all of us living in this society together—to acknowledge one another’s presence and begin a dialogue.

Sachiko Saito

ABOUT “Not now but one day”

・Edition of 93 (Hand-numbered & signed)
・Photography, Photography, text, editing, printing, binding : Sachiko Saito
・English translation : Komako Hattori
・English proofreading：JFL
・Size : 250mm × 185mm × 20mm
・Pages : 188 pages
・Weight : Approx. 500g
・Language : You can choose between Japanese and English languages.
・Price: 14,300 JPY (Tax included, shipping extra)

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