Tunnel under the mountains in Kyoto prefecture

Tags:   monochrome mono 'Black and White' converging Night night light Illumination

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   monochrome mono low key fern nature

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   monochrome mono Black & White shrine temple low key gate religion spiritual zen meditation vertical canon 6d 28mm ef28mm Kyoto Prefecture 京都県 京都府 京都市 右京区 京北中江町 傳土 Kyoto Ukyo Keihokunakaecho Dento

© All Rights Reserved

We are now getting the summer we should have had in August. What's more, the state of emergency has been lifted and we are allowed to travel to other prefectures. I met Yumi and her friends on the beach in Fukui. We got into conversation as we were diving off rocks into the clear sea around Suishohama.

Yumi is a Brazillian of Japanese ancestry, also known as a Nikkei. Following the start of the first world war in 1914 vast numbers of Japanese emigrated to Brazil, mostly for economic reasons. Brazil now has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

These days a lot of Nikkei are returning to live in Japan again for economic reasons.

Yumi had immigrated to Japan just 5 months ago with her mother and three daughters. There is a large Japanese Brazilian population in the area and they are mostly employed as a cheap source of labor in the large factories of several well-known companies. They can often suffer bullying and racism due to their lack of Japanese skills and cultural knowledge and are often looked down on by the local population.

I spoke with the three friends for some time. Her two friends were loud and rambunctious, Yumi on the other hand was quiet and softly spoken. They said the work they do was boring but the pay was much better than back home. For them, the quality of life was also much better. They don't ever plan on returning to Brazil.

Yumi looked really good in her red bikini and I was surprised to find out she was the mother of three children. I felt a little reluctant at first about asking for a photo but she was more than happy and seemed comfortable posing.

I had been shooting landscape and had a 28mm lens on. I couldn't see the screen clearly in the bright sunlight so I set the camera to automatic and took a few shots. But in the end, I was happy with how the shots turned out - the deep depth of field and her pose on the rock gives it a kind of retro feel.

Thanks for taking part in the project, it was fun!
This picture is my 25th submission in the 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/

This picture also appears in the Human Family Group www.flickr.com/groups/thehumanfamily/

Tags:   100 strangers beach beauty beautiful girl bikini monochrome greyscale Black & White canon 6d canon 50mm 1.8 stranger portrait travel portrait explored explore

© All Rights Reserved