A Brief Introduction to Yoichi Watanabe's Life

1 September 19721Born in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He graduated from Tianzipu Primary School and LiTianzipu Middle School in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He got excellent grades in junior high school and served as the president of the student union, and entered Shizuoka Fuji High School. At this time, I learned about the profession of "international journalist" from various channels and had a strong interest.

After graduating from high school, I studied in the Law Department of Meiji University for two years in order to enter Waseda University. I had hoped to be a temporary lawyer. When I was in college, I was very interested in the teacher's introduction, so I traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa with no experience and investigated the local pygmies. It was during the civil war in Rwanda, where it was attacked by Rwandan child soldiers. He gave up all his personal belongings, including his camera, and survived, but witnessed the villagers being brutally killed. After returning home, I told people around me about the reality of the massacre and the employment of child soldiers I witnessed. I thought it was my responsibility to record the reality keenly with my camera and make it public, which strengthened my idea of being a war photographer. I went to the battlefield for an interview when I was a freshman, so I dropped out of school twice. Go back to school only during the exam and graduate from college. At that time, in order to get funds, I often worked in restaurants or took photos.

On average, he spends more than half of his time reporting on foreign countries every year. He has reported on the Rwanda dispute, the Kosovo war, the Chechen war, the Somali civil war and the Iraq war. He has been to 130 countries and regions, and often goes deep into the battlefield as an army reporter. His works often appear in magazines and TV programs, and he also reported directly to China from the interview site as a host.

Married in 2009, gave birth to the first boy on June 9, 20 10.

He repeatedly expressed his wish to contribute to his hometown Fuji, and was appointed as the first tourism goodwill ambassador of Fuji on 2011.