Shoichi Aoki (b.1955) is a leading publisher and photographer of street fashion in Japan. He is the editor and sole photographer of the prime popular fashion magazines Street, Fruits and Tune. Fruits magazine originated in 1997 and to this day records and celebrates the vibrancy of Japanese street fashion. It all began when his eye was caught by two girls on a street corner outside his office, doing nothing in particular, in tartan duffle coats. His impulse was to take their picture: the result became Fruits. Aoki's uniqueness is revealed by his sensitive eye for individuality and for the contagious intensity of cult status. His creation of Fruits captured the essence of a surging eruption in street fashion in Harajuku, Tokyo, whilst also fuelling it. He created a new niche: a forum for identity formation, transformation and affirmation in the avant-garde fashion-world of Tokyo. In turn, he has immortalized the bold details of teenage reality, and the bright colours of teenage expression and escapism. Culminating in Fresh Fruits, he exposes with force the energy of self-perception and self-definition: a concept with which anyone can identify. This unprecedented surge is in perpetual re-invention, yet his images attain timeless insight.

Fresh Fruits is the second collection of Tokyo street fashion portraits from Japan's premier street fanzine, comprising the sequel to the hugely successful compilation Fruits, published in 2001. Fruits magazine swept Japan off its feet in 1997.

Initially a project to document the relentless explosion in street fashion in the suburbs of Tokyo, the magazine has grown to cult status. It is now avidly followed by thousands of Japanese teenagers, who also use the magazine as an opportunity to keep up with the latest styles and trends. The average age of kids featured in the magazine is between 12 and 18.

The captivating element of each image is the vibrant mixture of high fashion - Vivienne Westwood is a fixation - and home-made ensembles, which ignites a fresh, even feverish, effect. This second extensive collection of the magazine's best portraits embodies a unique documentation of the continually changing face of street fashion. It illustrates the fullness - and frenzy - of life in the 'fashion eco-system' of Harajuku. The reach of this wild eccentricity is reflected by Gwen Stefani's video Rich Girls, starring four 'Harajuku Girls'.

Fresh Fruits includes translations of the diverse Japanese captions which were originally attached to the photographs that list the name, age and clothing of each individual photographed. The images are at once strikingly real, and sublimely surreal.