Our Photographer of the Week - Kunio Waki

Carl Tinstman at the Bali Reunion, photographed by Kunio Waki

Kunio joined UNICEF in 1971. His first assignment was in India (5 years and a half) and then Bangladesh for three years. He later was Chief Asia Section at UNICEF in New York and Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF Bangkok. 

Kunio headed UNICEF Country Offices in Pakistan, Nigeria and Japan. After working with UNICEF for 26 years, he was seconded to UNDP as Associate Director to provide leadership in UN reforms. His last UN assignment was Deputy Executive Director at UNFPA, UN Population Fund, as Assistant Secretary General for 7 years. There, he provided leadership in formulating program policies and strategies, and improving management. 

He has published three books in Japanese based on his experiences with UN and most recently on global leadership published by Bungeisha, Tokyo just a month ago.

Kunio loves fishing and has traveled to fantastic places around the world to follow his passion for fishing — of course before COVID-19 restrictions. His photography tells us stories of Japan and other places in a straightforward way although thoroughly captivating manner. 

I particularly love his Japan-related frames for their immediacy, and especially the one with three young ladies in kimono at Shuzenji in Izu Peninsula.  This is where Kunio spent his early years.

The box below presents a slideshow.  The slideshow may take time to load the slides following the first.  Be patient.  Once the show has loaded the photos will appear automatically.  Note that if you click on a slide, the show will stop.  You can also visit the gallery of photos contributed by Kunio by clicking here.