Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, 10 years later. Areas previously inaccessible, near the Fukushima nuclear plants which were destroyed by the 2011 magnitude 9 earthquake and the tsunami that followed. They were within the evacuation zone imposed in 2011 after the radiation leak, which has now become much smaller as the radiation has decreased.

People in Tokyo adapted to the pandemic spread prevention measures like wearing masks and social distancing from the early days. The photos start from the first state of emergency days on April till the end of September 2020.

A trip of mainly Syrian and Afghani refugees via Greece in August 2015. Starting with them crossing the sea between Turkey and Greece by dingy boats and arriving to Lesvos island, it continues in the refugee camps there, by ferry to Piraeus port, in Victoria square of Athens city, in Thessaloniki city and then by bus and some walking to the border with Eidomeni border village where refugees crossed to the Republic of Macedonia on foot.

Naousa, a city of 22,000 in northern Greece that used to be the biggest industrial center in the Balkans, has now 50% unemployment. Most of it's 17 textile factories have closed down during the last 20 years with only one left now struggling to survive.

After the magnitude 9 earthquake in March 11th 2011, Japan sank by several cm. The earth moved like an angry beast, it shook the sea and went back to a restless sleep leaving us powerless to contemplate on our existence. Three months after the earthquake most people were gone. No one searching for bodies, no one trying to recover their belongings. Only construction workers, were left, demolishing the ruins of cities and villages. In the areas that sank, the water had taken over. The sea came inland, either permanently or during the high tide hours. These landscapes of disaster, reminiscent of an underworld, are now gone but hopefully not forgotten as monuments of our powerlessness and the transience of life.

Taro village in Iwate prefecture of northern Japan was almost completely destroyed by the March 11th magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami. The village had a very large tsunami barrier that was said to be the largest in Japan but it wasn't big enough to protect it. A few days after the earthquake people who survived were temporarily sheltered inside the temple and the school of the village and they were going back to where their homes used to be trying to rescue some of their belongings. In May 2011 the village was completely cleared from the ruble and the people were moved to Grinpia recreation center a few km away where prefabricated houses were build for some of the villagers, while some others were staying inside the center that was transformed to a shelter with a health center and administration facilities for the community. Until August 2011 still no decision had been taken about the future of the village. To see more images please email request to photo@androniki.com

Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, was greatly affected by the March 11th 2011 earthquake and tsunami. These photos where shot within the first 10 days after the earthquake.

Fukushima prefecture, July 2011 Date city where new "volunteer evacuation" areas have been designated and a family that will have to move out of their house. A kindergarten in Fukushima city where children play indoors because of fear of letting them play outdoors on contaminated ground. Namie and Iitate cities north of the 20 km zone that have been evacuated because of high levels of radiation. An NGO that visits people still living in evacuated areas to check their condition and bring them supplies. Minamisoma city next to the 20 km zone around the nuclear plants where there are people still living in shelters, a young girl with high levels of internal radiation and a the local festival that despite the difficulties was once again held in July 2011.

Thailand's Troubled Border. Along Thailand's border we come across a series of issues, from the Burmese refugee camps along the western border with Burma, neglected hill tribes which not so long ago were involved in the illegal opium production of the Golden triangle at the north, Cazinos in the no-man's-land between Thailand and Cambodia on the east, to the Muslim insurgency in the south provinces near Malaysia. This photographic journey meets the people who live in those places and offers a glimpse in their everyday lives. To see more images please email request to photo@androniki.com

Despite a "crackdown" on rampant illegal sex, Cambodia is still a world capital of pedophilia.

Kamagasaki as an official place name existed until 1922 but it is still used today. It is now part Nishinari-ku and it is officially called Airin-chiku. Kamagasaki is known as Japan's largest slum and has the largest day laborer concentration in the entire country. 30,000 people are estimated to live in every 2,000 meter radius within this region. An accurate count of occupants has never been produced, even in the national census, due to the large population of day laborers who lack permanent addresses. When the global recession hit in Japan after September 2008, Kamagasaki was one of the main places to display the results it had on Japanese day laborers who were of the first to loose their jobs. Many who remained jobless and often homeless, found shelter in Kamagasaki's cheap hotels and night shelters. Also the Airin Labor Welfare Center can help find temporary jobs so they gather there every morning hoping to get picked up by employers. The majority of the day laborers who have been living in Kamagasaki are older men whose age makes it difficult to find jobs but they are not old enough yet to get pension money. They pick up temporary jobs when possible and they try to survive till they can retire at the age of 60.

Hiroshima, the city where the first atomic bomb was dropped during WWII, is now a peaceful living city where the monuments reminding the bombing are integrated in it's everyday life. More emphasis in not forgetting is put by the exhibits of the Peace Memorial Museum in the center of the city and also center point of the bomb's explosion. In connection with the museum, a few still living "hibakusha" or survivors of the bombing, are campaigning against the use of nuclear weapons by giving speeches and occasionally displaying the marks that the bombing left on their bodies.

Korea University is a university located in Kodaira, Tokyo. It was established by ethnic activist association and de facto North Korean embassy Chongryon on 10 April 1956. Korean is the medium of instruction. It operates seven four-year faculties: political economy (including courses in philosophy under its rubric), literature, history and geography, management, foreign languages, science (physics, mathematics, and biochemistry) and technology (mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, and metallurgy). The university also runs two and three-year normal school programmes, as well as a two-year post-graduate school. The university has received funding directly from the government of North Korea every year since 1957; for example, in 2002, it received ¥132,420,000 in funding at the direction of Kim Jong-il. Most students become teachers at Chongryon-affiliated schools after graduation. As of July 2001, the university's rector is Chang Byong Tae, a graduate of Kyoto University and a former researcher in solid-state chemistry with France's Centre national de la recherche scientifique.

LIFE ON THE EDGE - PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN THE AL AQSA INTIFADA, 2000-2001 In the center of the Arab world, living for 34 years under Israeli occupation, the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are in constant turmoil. In the 1987-94 there was the 1st Intifada (uprising) when through civil disobedience and clashes with the Israelis, they demanded their independence. The semi-autonomous status that was achieved by the Oslo Agreements brought a short period of prosperity and relevant peace, but from the end of September 2000 the uneasy coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians has gradually developed into a real war with hundreds of casualties. Ariel Sharon, responsible for the massacres of the Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in south Lebanon in 1982, visited one of the Holiest places of the Muslim world, Al Aqsa Mosque, generating demonstrations that were followed by clashes and the first casualties. Since then and as in the 1st Intifada, the Palestinians were fighting mainly with stones. But now Palestinians have begun using guns and bombs in their struggle. Suicide bombers with great belief in the Koran and the struggle for the independence of Palestine, say their last prayers and with a belt full of explosives blow up themselves and Israelis. The Israelis try to suppress the Intifada with steel and rubber bullets, they bomb sites belonging to the Palestinian Authority, they confiscate land, demolish fields and houses and impose blockades that make Palestinians and their economy suffer. The decisions in Palestinian society are taken by men. They are the ones that work to support their families and fight for a better future and an independent Palestine. Women live on the edge of the conflict, following their traditional roles. Their life revolves around their families and the many children they bear. A few women play a different role in the society and they are mainly on the West Bank. Between them are many that work for humanitarian organizations trying to help the Palestinian people while some raise their voice on the side of men in demonstrations and help them in the clashes. When men and teenagers confront the Israeli army with stones, there are women that collect stones for them or bring them water. Others stay behind ready to help the injured, or the ones that suffer from tear gas with cotton dipped in cologne. As mothers they fight to keep their children away from trouble spots, trying to persuade them that it is not a game to confront bullets with stones. When they lose them or their husbands, they mourn but their suffering lessens with the thought it was for a higher cause. Living their lives on the edge, they are waiting for the outcome of the conflict without much hope it will end soon. 27/1/2024 Most of Gaza is destroyed by Israel’s bombing (26,000+ Palestinians dead, 64,000+ injured), following the October 7th 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel (about 1,200 dead, 250 hostages).