Daido Moriyama

One of my very favorite photographers is Daido Moriyama, who hails from Osaka, Japan (but now lives in Tokyo). There's a great documentary film on his friend photographer Araki, called "Arakimentari" (2003), that includes interviews with Daido Moriyama (as well as Bjork and "Beat" Takeshi Kitano) that I highly recommend. The following recent article is also a good overview of him:

http://www.bigempire.com/sake/daido_moriyama.html

"The images he captures often show everyday people and everyday things in a manner not to be found in the average Tokyo tourist guidebook. Whether by using blur or cropping, Moriyama’s bleak and lonely black-and-white pictures have garnered him the reputation as one of Japan’s great modern photographers."

Daido Moriyama said, in the interview: "My work is endless. As long as the world exists, I want to take snapshots."

Link