Takay was born in Osaka, Japan in 1973. After studying photography at the Visual Arts College in Osaka, he moved to London to work as a photographic assistant. He began shooting his own stories in 1998 for fashion magazines, such as i-D, The Face, Arena, Spoon, Jalouse, and L’Officiel.

In 1999, Levi’s requested that Takay shoot an exhibition for their mega-store in San Francisco. In the following years, Takay held solo exhibitions of his private work at galleries in Tokyo, Osaka, and London. He is currently concentrating on fashion photography, advertising, and musicians’ portraits for various record labels, in addition to his own personal projects.

Takay is currently based in Europe and divides his time primarily between London and Paris.