In 1980, one of the first music videos for then up-and-coming British rock trio The Police was filmed on the Tokyo subway. In the footage, three blond musicians — bass player/singer Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and American drummer Stewart Copeland — mug for the camera against a backdrop of anonymous Japanese commuters, lip-syncing into walkie-talkies to their aptly chosen hit single, “So Lonely.”

But Summers would soon find himself on the other side of the lens, too, pursuing a passion for photography that he had nurtured since his adolescence in Bournemouth, England, where he fell in love with black-and-white art films from around the world shown at a local cinema, including early masterworks by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. At the time The Police was hitting peak popularity, Summers tracked down American photographer Ralph Gibson in New York, who helped him publish his debut photo book, “Throb,” in 1983.

Four decades later, at age 81, Summers returned to Japan last month to open two exhibitions of his work at galleries in Tokyo and Kyoto operated by German camera-maker Leica. Both shows are based on his latest book, “A Series of Glances,” and will run through July 7.