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Kouichi Urashima was born in Korsakov, Sakhalin in Russia in 1924.
Just after the Second World War, in 1945, he was detained and put into a concentration camp in Siberia, Russia for two years.
Then he was repatriated to Japan and settled down in Obihiro where he started a small watch shop.

In 1950 he moved his shop to Toyokoro, a small town near Obihiro.
There he developed an interest in taking photographs.
His earlier works of black and white photos were quite popular and many of them won local and national photo contests.

With the growing popularity of color photos, however, he gradually switched from black and white to color.
In 1984 he held his first color photo exhibition.
He became especially well known for his photos of an elm tree, which stands on the bank of the Tokachi River, taken throughout the four seasons.

He passed away on April 25, 2001 at the age of 77, but even now his avid fans appreciate his works.

In 2003, some of his elm tree photos were used for the ending sequence of an NHK TV drama, "Fuko's Ramen." One year later his photo exhibition was held in Ginza, Tokyo and attracted 7,000 people in only one week.
The following year a photo gallery of his back and white photos was opened in Obihiro.
Furthermore, his life story and photographs are included in a junior high school English textbook used nationwide in Japan now.

Several collections of his photos have been published: "Tree," "Country" (Seiseisha), the CD-ROM "Nono Seirei: Tokachino" (Kinyosha), and the DVD "Tokachino" (Pioneer).
Photo Exhibition in Madison:http://www.capitalcityhues.com/051409AsianWisconzine.html