A hopeless feeling came over me as I frantically browsed what seems like more than a thousand old cameras in the crowded glass cabinets of the Camera Box shop in a Shinjuku basement.

The prices are so low that there's no way I can leave without buying something. But I can't just buy for the sake of buying. There must be a stronger purpose, but the familiar brands were ignoring me. Then with only five minutes to spare before I really must leave to catch my train, it caught my eye. I asked to see it. I handled it. It spoke to me. I felt its longing to leave the shop. We both have so many more memories to capture, yet we both share a feeling of being discarded by society. Why this particular pairing of me and it? I played with it in the next hotel room at the other end of the train ride. I went to sleep. I woke up early. I played with it again. Then it occurred to me. We are the same age. Born in the same year. Both not ready to stop working.

That was in February 2017. And so began my adventure into the wonderful world of purely mechanical, beautifully built, classic cameras.