Michio Yamauchi was born in 1950 in Nishimikawa, Aichi Prefecture. After graduating from Waseda University in 1975, he worked as a reporter for a weekly newspaper. In 1980, Yamauchi enrolled in night classes at Tokyo College of Photography while continuing to work full time at the newspaper.

For the past 20 years, he has published over 10 books on street photography. His work also appeared in many galleries around Japan. Yamauchi won the Nikon’s Ina Nobuo Award in 1997.