Photographer. Kikai was born 1945 in Sagae (Yamagata Prefecture). He graduated from Hosei University in Tokyo with a degree in philosophy. After a brief period of employment in the administration of his native Yamagata, Kikai became a truck driver, and then worked at a shipyard and as a union worker for deep-sea tuna fishery. In the early 1970s, Kikai began to work as a photographer with interest into portraiture.

In the following years, Kikai won a variety of awards, including the APA Award, the Newcomer Award of the Photographic Society of Japan, the Nobuo Ina Prize, and the Society of Photography Award. His anthologies “India” and “Tokyo Labyrinth” have been published by Misuzu and Shogakkan, respectively. In 2004, Kikai’s photo book “Persona” received the 23rd Ken Domon Prize.
Passed away on October 19, 2020, age 75.