Amami Superman Photography

This is part 2 of the Amami Parade. I took over 1200 photos in 3 hours of everyone and everything. Trying to chose photos to post is proving to be pretty difficult. I want to share a little bit about the island I live on and I can't post all the photos I want to.

Amami is a pretty small island and there are probably more people in the parade than there are watching, or pretty close to.

I really like the groups of kids that participate in the parade. It must take a bit of courage to get out and perform in front of everyone like this. They had some other groups of kids that I'll post in a different post that really impressed me. I'm trying to keep most of these groups in order as they appeared to me.



A bunch of the hostess clubs they have here get together to do their thing in the parade. It's not just hostess clubs but regular shot bars and sports bars also. They also had a few gay bars participating but I didn't get very many good shots of them. It was kind of interesting seeing a man in a woman's kimono with make up wearing huge fake eyelashes. Not that they looked gaudy, but it wasn't something you see everyday.



The older gentleman on the left is Makoto Koshima. He is a very famous camera man here in Amami. I was a bit intimidated by him but he was nice enough to talk to me as we shot photos. In my previous post, I mention the annoying photographers that would just walk up and stand in front of you mid shot. Mr. Koshima was a very courteous photographer and I felt honored that he hung around me and talked with me.



This is the kind of machine they use to make the special kind of silk kimono fabric called tsumugi. Tsumugi is famous in Japan for the special designs and colors used to make kimonos. You can find out more about tsumugi here.

Most of the groups you see next are apart of the groups supporting Oshima Tsumugi.


Again, here is Mr. Koshima. I really enjoyed talking with him while shooting.





They have a couple of dance schools here in Amami. I'm not sure which one this is, but they're here supporting Oshima Tsumugi.





The sign on the truck basically says to do your shopping in your home town or where your from. I'm not sure of the reason for this but I would have to say it has to do with keeping the economy here on the island stable throughout the smaller outlying villages.



My wife's mother's side of the family owns a office supply shop called Tokyodo. They also own a Sanrio shop called Gaba Gaba. The first 3 people in this photo are from Tokyodo. On the right is Ami who works the register. The lady in the middle is Hiroko. She is my wife's mother's older brother's wife. Is that too much? I guess it's easy enough to say she's my wife's uncle's wife? The lady to the right of her is her daughter, Masae.