Kenji Jacklio Fududome – The Santa Barbara Independent

Kenji Jacklio Fukudome handed away peacefully on November 28, 2025, on the age of 62, abandoning a legacy of inspiration, energy, and resourcefulness.

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture in Southern Japan, Kenji grew up in a small village. He spent his days wandering the neighboring woods and mountains—mountains he later known as his Dad’s Mountains.

He would later say that these woods formed him into the decided, self-taught, relentless Kenji that his family and friends knew so nicely. Kenji arrived in San Francisco in 1981 with the American dream in his coronary heart. His unconventional view of life was what drew him to the U.S.

He quickly realized English, at all times carrying a small pocket book and pen to put in writing down new phrases as he heard them. His ardour for pictures started when he realized {that a} single picture may make somebody “cry, laugh, or rage.” Through his craft he met numerous buddies—many who grew to become household. Kenji studied at Brooks Institute of Photography, graduating in 1989 and honing his profession as a marriage and portrait photographer. His pictures and joyful spirit drew many to him.Often he would {photograph} a marriage couple, and years later {photograph} that very same couple by means of being pregnant and rising household portraits.

In 1994, Kenji attended the Body Therapy Institute in Santa Barbara, finding out therapeutic massage to higher perceive and acquire perception into photographing the human physique.

He liked shiatsu therapeutic massage due to his cultural upbringing. At that point, he was inquisitive about how the physique functioned and how you can hold it nicely. He took pictures of the college for his or her brochures, finally making a therapeutic massage apply named Touch and Tranquility.

Kenji opened his first pictures studio in 1996, rapidly turning into a sought-after expertise recognized for his portraiture work in each formal studio settings and environmental areas. He discovered true ardour in his particular person inventive endeavors, usually specializing in massive our bodies of labor united by a shared conceptual theme. His most up-to-date mission was a 30-day studio portrait problem.

Kenji leaves behind his brother and sister, two nieces, three nephews, and his mom (Kaachan), whom he FaceTimed with day-after-day over the previous three years. Those each day visits meant the world to each of them.

We will bear in mind Kenji for his pleasure in educating, problem-solving, and, after all, his radiant spirit of life.

A celebration of his life will probably be held on his birthday, January 4, 2026, at Leadbetter Park at 10:00 a.m.