Arguably the premier creative medium in Japan, photography has undergone significant changes over the last few years. The advent of digital imaging has made it easier and cheaper for people to experiment with photography, while the latest generation of inkjet printers have made it possible to display these images at sizes that were all but unimaginable just a few years ago.

All Tokyo art galleries mount photography shows, or include photography in their exhibitions, but worth a closer look are a string of galleries in Shinjuku -- some long-established, some fairly new -- that focus on the medium.

Set aside the better part of an afternoon for a walking tour of these spots, which will take you to little artist-run nooks and huge corporate-sponsored showrooms to see everything from old-school, black-and-white film, silver-gelatin prints to enormous color-saturated inkjet prints. A flier with a map of the galleries mentioned below is available from all participating spaces; pick one up at your first stop, or call and ask to be faxed a copy.