Japanese photographer chronicles daily life in 1997 Hong Kong

Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, who visited Hong Kong in the spring of 1997 - a few months before it returned to China - had captured the city back then in a series of images that are now on display at Sotheby's S|2 gallery there. Prior to that first visit abroad, Araki had seldom left his home country.

Soon after he arrived in Hong Kong, he felt seduced by the city and he couldn't wait to venture into its crowded lanes day after day.

"It's been a while since I've been so excited ... I should tackle the outside world more. I should fight against it with my photography, just like a battlefield photographer," the 75-year-old once wrote in a journal.