was a Japanese photographer for

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

. He was the very first winner of the

Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of feature photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or phot ...

Biography

Toshio Sakai was born in

Tōkai Tōkai ( 東海, literally ''East Sea'') in Japanese may refer to: * Tōkai region, a subregion of Chūbu * Tōkai, Ibaraki, a village, also known as "Tokaimura" (Tokai-village) * Tōkai, Aichi, a city * Tōkai University, a private university in T ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, on March 31, 1940. In 1964 he graduated from the

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

and joined

as a

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and ph ...

technician. In a year, he was promoted to a staff photographer. In 1965-1975 he worked for UPI, covering multiple topics and visiting hotspots around the world. He covered the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and made several trips to the country in 1966-68. His close friend was another Japanese photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner Kyōichi Sawada. Sawada was killed in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n Takéo Province in October 1970, Sakai was the one who returned Sawada’s ashes to his widow. In 1973 Sakai switched to the news picture editor’s position. After the

fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...

in 1975, he became UPI’s photo manager in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. In 1977 he became an independent freelance photographer, publishing in

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

the Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

and other important international publications. In 1986 he covered the overthrow of

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and riots at the

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen (" ...

in 1989. In 1968 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his photo "Dreams of Better Times" taken on June 17, 1967, during the

. He was the first person to receive that award. The photo showed an American soldier asleep on a pile of sandbags under a heavy monsoon rain, while his comrade was standing guard. Their troop located at the Landing Zone Rufe in 36 miles northeast Of Phuc Vinh, they had a brief rest after sniper and mortar fire. UPI selected Toshio Sakai for a trip to

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, but his appearance was considered too Japanese and good-looking and he couldn’t be disguised as a Vietnamese, that is why the crew chief “always told him to get lost”. In 1968 Sakai became the photo director of the Tokyo bureau of Agence France-Presse, in 1994 he founded a video film planning company. Sakai died from a heart attack at the age of 59.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Toshio 1940 births 1999 deaths Photography in Vietnam Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography winners Japanese photojournalists