Few visitors to the world-famous Isle of Man TT can claim a connection with the island quite like Yuki Kobayashi.

This year marks the Japanese journalist and researcher’s 30th visit to the island, having first travelled to the races back in 1996.

What began as curiosity about a world-famous motorcycle race has since developed into a lifelong fascination with the island's unique motorsport culture and community.

To mark three decades of visits, Yuki will stage a photography exhibition at Murray's Motorcycle Museum during this year's Manx Grand Prix, which takes place in August.

The exhibition will feature images documenting her experiences on the island, alongside photographs capturing the people, places and culture that surround the TT.

A motorcycle journalist and graduate of Toyo University in Tokyo, Yuki combined her passion for the sport with her academic interests during the 2000s. Her postgraduate research in cultural anthropology focused on the Isle of Man's distinctive relationship with motorsport, and her thesis remains part of the collection at the Manx Museum.

Reflecting on her first visit nearly 30 years ago, she said: ‘I was still quite young in 1996 and did not know much about motorcycle racing or its history.

‘Everything I saw on the Isle of Man shocked me. I did not have the words to explain what I was feeling. The first line of the magazine article I wrote afterwards was: "I am writing this article with tears in my eyes."

‘I decided that I had to come back and understand the Isle of Man properly. That experience eventually led me to leave my job and become a freelance journalist.’

Yuki said her academic background in sociology led her to explore the relationship between local communities and motorsport.

‘I realised that the Isle of Man was the only place where I could research the relationship between local communities and motorsport. In Japan there are only races on closed circuits. There are no public road races.

‘Public roads are everyday spaces, but by closing them for racing, the same location becomes an extraordinary space, and the entire island becomes a festival space.

‘I discovered that the local community deeply supports and develops this. No other place has such a strong connection between motorsport and the local community.’

That relationship is reflected in the photographs she has chosen for her exhibition.

‘I've taken many photos of racing, but rather than focusing on the riders, I've chosen images that capture the background, people's expressions and the unique motorcycle culture of the Isle of Man,’ she said.

Part of the exhibition recounts one of her strongest memories from that first trip.

After being taken to a motorcycle museum, she recalled being overwhelmed by the history and heritage of the TT.

‘Overwhelmed by the weight of history and sensing the rich traditions and culture, I was overcome by an emotion too great to bear and burst into tears.’