Rin Tanaka, born in 1970, is a Japanese journalist and photographer.

Spending his college days in the Mississippi Delta with old Blues musicians, he became “the youngest blues write in the world” at 20 years old. In 1994 he started researching the history of motorcycle jackets and accessories.

Since 1998 he had moved to San Clemente, CA, and is hitting the road everyday and everywhere to study men’s lifestyles in the U.S.A. Also He started the self-published business, “My Freedamn!” in June, 2003.

Since 2010, he has started kulture recycle event “Inspiration” in Los Angeles.

Biography

Japanese Book

• “The Story of the Motorcycle Jackets” (Fuso-Sha, 1998, out of print)
• “The Life with Motorcycle Jackets” (Free&Easy, 2000, out of print)

English Book

• “Motorcycle Jackets: A Century of Leather Designs” (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2000)
• “Motorcycle Helmet: 1930s-1990s” (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2002)
• “Motorcycle Jackets: Ultimate Biker’s Fashions” (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2003)
• “Harley-Davidson Book of Fashions:1910-1950s” (Cycleman Books, 2008)

Cycleman Books (English/Japanese)

• My freedamn! 1 (Cycleman Books, 2003)
• My freedamn! 2 (Cycleman Books, 2004)
• 40 Summers Ago…(Cycleman Books, 2004)
• My freedamn! 3 (Cycleman Books, 2005)
• My freedamn! 4 (Cycleman Books, 2005)
• My freedamn! 5 (Cycleman Books, 2006)
• My freedamn! 6 (Cycleman Books, 2007)
• Harley-Davidson Book of Fashion (Cycleman Books, 2008)
• My freedamn! 7 (Cycleman Books, 2008)
• My freedamn! 8 (Cycleman Books, 2009)
• King of Vintage vol.1 : Heller’s Cafe 1 (Cycleman Books, 2009)
• My freedamn! 9 (Cycleman Books, 2010)
• Queen of Vintage: Meow (Cycleman Books, 2010)
• King of Vintage vol.3 : Heller’s Cafe 2 (Cycleman Books, 2011)
• My freedamn! 10 (Cycleman Books, 2012)
• Schott: 100 years of an Original (Cycleman Books, 2013)
• XLARGE (Cycleman Books, 2016)
• Lewis Leathers Part 1 (Cycleman Books, 2017)
• Wesco Boots (Cycleman Books, 2018)