Bringing photos into the lives of people in Tokyo is a challenge that the IMA Concept Store Gallery takes so seriously they made their slogan "Living with Photography."

IMA magazine started publishing in 2012 and immediately garnered a reputation for the quality of its work and a respect for its mission of introducing young Japanese artists to a broader audience. The magazine, though, was not enough, the editors decided. To really bring artistic photographs into people's lives, they had to do more.

So the editors and the parent company, Amana, decided to turn the magazine into a three-dimensional experience so people could see, hear, feel, and think about photography. They found a perfect space in Roppongi, opened a bookstore and gallery there in March 2014, and have held new exhibitions every month or two since.

Talking in the sleek meeting room next to the gallery, IMA editor Ayaka Nakamura explained that their objectives required more than just a magazine. The purpose of the gallery is to be a space where people can come close to photographic art and experience it directly and intimately.

The front door opens into a spacious interior that has a shop stocked with books and magazines on photography, including IMA. The store and gallery spaces are basically the same -- open, welcoming, and aimed at bringing people closer to the art of photography by letting them experience the exhibits without feeling the reticence some galleries might induce, and without charge.

Nakamura explained that for most Japanese, art and life are not close. People rarely invest in artworks or have them in their homes. Through its magazine and gallery, IMA is trying to broaden the potential audience for artistic photography by bringing novelists, designers, and fashion workers into the space -- as well as businesspeople, housewives, and students to give them a feel for how photographic art can enrich their life. Putting the gallery in Roppongi, with easy access from all parts of Tokyo, is key to that process.

For the people working at IMA, the slogan "Living with Photography" means something more than knowing about camera equipment or snapping family and food photos. It means coming to appreciate the impact, meaning, and beauty of artistic photographs. IMA Concept Store Gallery is well on the way to achieving that goal. Their gallery/store/agency/publishing space is already turning into a center for promoting new artistic photography in Japan.