Born on 30 March 1925 in Ōita City

Oita, Oita

is the capital city of Ōita Prefecture located on the island of Kyushu, Japan.- Demographics and geography :Ōita is the most populous city in Ōita Prefecture...

, Nagano studied economics at Keio University

Keio University

,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...

 (Tokyo). On graduating, he joined a trading company, but soon resigned. He was recruited by Natori Yōnosuke for Weekly Sun News ; and in 1949 moved to Iwanami Shoten

Iwanami Shoten Publishing

is a Japanese publishing company in Tokyo.Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Shigeo Iwanami. Its first major publication was the novel Kokoro in 1914.Its head office is at Hitotsubashi 2–5–5, Chiyoda, Tokyo....

 where, again under Natori, he did the photography for about fifty of the slim volumes in Iwanami Shashin Bunko. In 1954 he went freelance, concentrating on magazine work.

During the 1960s Nagano observed the period of intense economic growth in Japan, depicting the lives of Tokyo's sarariman with some humor. The photographs of this period were only published in book form much later, as Dorīmu eiji and 1960 (1978 and 1990 respectively).

In 1964 Nagano worked on the cinemaphotography for Ichikawa Kon

Kon Ichikawa

was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...

's film Tokyo Olympiad

Tokyo Olympiad

Tokyo Olympiad is a 1965 documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Ichikawa's film was considered a milestone in documentary filmmaking...

, and he then moved to work in film and television, particularly television commercials.

Nagano exhibited recent examples of his street photography

Street photography

Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings....

 in 1986, winning the Ina Nobuo Award

Ina Nobuo Award

The is given annually by the Nikon Salon, an organization of exhibition spaces in Japan that is sponsored by Nikon Corporation.The award was started in 1976; it is named in honor of Nobuo Ina, a photography critic who headed the Nikon Salon from 1968 until his death in 1978.The award is given to...

. He has brought out several books of his works since then, and won a number of awards for them. Nagano had a major retrospective at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography

The is an art museum focused on photography. The museum was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is located in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo...

 in 2000.

Books of Nagano's works

• Iwanami Shashin Bunko . Tokyo: Iwanami. Nagano is reputed to have done the photography for 50 or 60 of this large set. They include:
  • Kamakura . 1950. Reprint: Tokyo: Iwanami, 1988. ISBN 4-00-003549-5. The reprint names Nagano as photographer.
  • Nagasaki . 1951.
  • Hiroshima . 1952.
• Kogai satsuei jōtatsu 50 no hiketsu . Tokyo: Genkōsha, 1954. 
• Dokyumentarī shashin . Gendai Kamera Shinsho 30. Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1977. 
• Dorīmu eiji / Japan's Dream Age. Sonorama Shashin Sensho 10. Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1978.  A new edition of Nagano's photographs of urban Japan in the period of high growth.
• Yoru no byōin . Tokyo: Fukuinkan, 1985. ISBN 4-8340-0134-2.  Nagano provides the photographs for this children's book, whose text is by Tanikawa Shuntarō
  Shuntaro Tanikawa
  is a Japanese poet and translator. He is one of the most widely read and highly regarded of living Japanese poets, both in Japan and abroad, and a frequent subject of speculations regarding the Nobel Prize in Literature...
  
  .
• Inka teikoku no zanshō: Shinbi to roman to sono matsuei . Tokyo: IBC, 1988. ISBN 4-87198-787-6. 
• Tōi shisen: 1980–1989 Tokyo . Tokyo: IBC, 1989. ISBN 4-87198-800-7. 
• 1960: Nagano Shigeichi shashinshū . Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1990. ISBN 4-582-27722-5.  Nagano's black and white photographs taken in 1960 of Berlin and Japan.
• Taiheiki: Shashin kikō . Tokyo: IBC, 1991.  ISBN 4-87198-834-1.
• Nagano Shigeichi sakuhinten: 1960 Berurin Nihon . JCII Photo Salon Library 7. Tokyo: JCII Photo Salon, 1991.  Exhibition catalogue.
• Tōkyō kōjitsu . Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1995. ISBN 4-582-27732-2.  Captions give the location in Japanese script and the year; also with an essay in Japanese.
• Jidai no kioku 1945–1995: Nagano Shigeichi shashinshū . Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1995. ISBN 4-02-258611-7. 
• Nagano Shigeichi . Nihon no Shashinka. Tokyo: Iwanami, 1999. ISBN 4-00-008368-6.  A survey of Nagano's work.
• Kono kuni no kioku: Nagano Shigeichi, shashin no shigoto / A Chronicle of Japan: Nagano Shigeichi: A Life in Photography. Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kikaku, 2000. ISBN 4-930887-28-3.  Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
  Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
  The is an art museum focused on photography. The museum was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is located in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo...
  
  , 2000. Captions are in English as well as Japanese; other text is in Japanese only.
• Tōi shisen / Distant Gaze. Tokyo: Wides, 2001. ISBN 4-89830-091-X. 
• Nagano Shigeichi . Hysteric 14. Tokyo: Hysteric Glamour, 2005.  Photographs 1949–59, 2001–2004. Captions in Japanese and English. Tōkyō 1950 nendai . Tokyo: Iwanami, 2007. ISBN 978-4-00-024162-5.  Photographs of the streets of Tokyo. With an essay by Saburō Kawamoto.
• Tōi shisen: Gentō / Distant Gaze: Dark Blossom of Winter. Tokyo: Sokyu-sha, 2008. 
• Honkon tsuioku / Hongkong Reminiscence 1958. Tokyo: Sokyu-sha, 2009.  Photographs of Hong Kong taken in 1958. Short texts in Japanese and English, captions in Japanese only.
• Magajin wāku 60 nendai / Magazine Work 60s. Tokyo: Life Goes On & Taxi (distrib. Heibonsha), 2009. ISBN 978-4-582-27775-3. Works published (or intended for publication) in magazines, 1958–1971. Text in Japanese and English.

Works with contributions by Nagano

• Hiraki, Osamu, and Keiichi Takeuchi. Japon, un autoportrait: Photographies 1945–1964. Paris: Flammarion, 2004. ISBN 2-08-011330-5.
  • Japan, a Self-Portrait: Photographs 1945–1964. Paris: Flammarion, 2004. ISBN 2-08-030463-1.
  • Nihon no "jigazō", 1945–1964 . Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2004. ISBN 4-00-008215-9.
  • Nihon no jigazō: Shashin ga egaku sengo, 1945–1964 . Tokyo: Kurevisu, 2009.
• Nihon shashin no tenkan: 1960 nendai no hyōgen / Innovation in Japanese Photography in the 1960s. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1991. Exhibition catalogue, text in Japanese and English. Pp.90–97 show photographs from the series "Dream Age".
• Shashin toshi Tōkyō / Tokyo/City of Photos. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1995. Catalogue of an exhibition held in 1995. Captions and texts in both Japanese and English.
• Tōkyō: Toshi no shisen / Tokyo: A city perspective. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, 1990. Captions and text in Japanese and English.
• Densha ni miru toshi fūkei 1981–2006 ( / Scenes of Tokyo City: Prospects from the Train 1981–2006. Tama City, Tokyo: Tama City Cultural Foundation Parthenon Tama, 2006. Exhibition catalogue. Captions and text in Japanese and English.

External links

• Samples of work by Nagano hosted by Fujifilm (click on the titles to see more)
• Chronologies of Nagano's life and works hosted by Fujifilm
• Ono, Philbert. Review of Kono kuni no kioku / A Chronicle of Japan.
• Sample pages from Magazine Work 60s.