GIFF JOHNSON
A modest new photograph book featuring images of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau has been published by the prolific photojournalist Floyd K. Takeuchi of Honolulu.
The book, “7 Degrees North,” is the author’s “love letter to…a time when nature’s beauty defined the day, and to a proud people, who lived pretty much as their ancestors had for eons, (and) welcomed those of us who lived among them.”
The table top book features 14 mostly color images from this region. Takeuchi is known for using black and white images and two of the photos in the book are in that format.
The first photo of the book shows the beautiful fringing reef and low islands of an outer atoll over the shoulder of Air Marshall Islands Caption and CEO Albon Jelke in the cockpit of the Dornier as he guides the plane to its destination.
“The book was inspired by the art show Margo Vitarelli and I organized last year — featuring primarily younger talent raised outside of Micronesia,” said Takeuchi. That show, the Ocean of Peace exhibition held in Maui late last year, was the subject of an article and photos in the December 19, 2025 edition of the Journal.
Takeuchi was born and raised in Majuro and after moving into the world of journalism in the 1970s, has photographed and written about the islands for five decades.
“The way I see it, there are two types of people on this planet,” Takeuchi writes in a short narrative at the start of the book. “The first group loves islands, and thrives on the limitations imposed by knowing that your world is literally defined by the high water mark on the beach.
“The other group,” he continued, “are those poor souls who can’t abide by the thought that there might be limitations beyond the horizon.”
Takeuchi admits to being a “lifetime member” of the first group.
“When I was growing up in the 1950s, the scene not far from our family’s modest government-issue bungalow on Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands was what’s pictured on the facing page,” he said. The image he is talking about is a black and white photo of Laura beach with Rongrong Island in the distance — a scene of long ago, with multiple outrigger canoes sailing between Laura and Rongrong, and perhaps a half a dozen canoes on the beach.
“But here’s the thing,” Takeuchi said: “There may be a lot more cars on Majuro’s roads today, and far fewer canoes on the beach, and people live with the Internet and television 24/7. But they still welcome those of us who live among them. And for that, I am eternally grateful.”
The book is available through blurb.com.
Takeuchi is soon to publish a new photograph book, with commentary, featuring the celebration of Christmas in Majuro this past December through the actions of different jeptas (Marshallese dance groups). He and cousin Miya Stephanoff spent 10 days photographing jepta practices at Uliga Protestant Church and at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Rairok in the lead up to Christmas Day — and then captured in pictures the extravaganza of dance performances that day.