Kaino E

Kaino E is a long-term documentary photobook centered on Kunihiko Kaino, one of the last surviving Japanese hard-helmet pearl divers who migrated from Taiji, Wakayama, to Broome, Western Australia after the Second World War. The project began in 2021 through a personal connection and developed over several years of close time spent with Mr. Kaino at his home in Fremantle, as well as during his final return to Japan to visit his 98-year-old sister. The book unfolds in three parts: Japan, Australia, and a central chapter that brings together photographs from three generations: images made by Mr. Kaino’s father, by Mr. Kaino himself, and by Alsharrah. Spanning nearly a century, these photographs trace a lived trajectory across oceans, linking family memory, migration, and labor through a shared visual lineage. The title “Kaino E” derives from Mr. Kaino’s name, which can be read in Japanese as “ocean field,” reflecting a life shaped by the sea. The suffix E, meaning “to” or “dear” in the opening of a letter, positions the book as a form of address. In this sense, Kaino E functions as an ode, a letter to Mr. Kaino and to a generation of divers whose histories are gradually receding. Rooted in collaboration and long-term engagement, the project moves between documentary record and photographic poem. It reflects on friendship, return, and remembrance, while situating an individual life within the broader legacy of Japanese pearl divers in Australia, across generations, borders, and the enduring field of the ocean.