Lifestyles: disappearing and aspired

In 1962, when Japan began importing powdered milk, local farmers in Atika could no longer recover the cost of their production. When they symbolically dumped the milk in a public protest, Shinzo Hanabusa was there to tell the story. The publication of this photograph in the major publication Ewanami Shoten helped turn things around. Photo: Shinzo Hanabusa

The Bangladeshi season Shorot is known for its dramatic cloud formations. Sailboats, once common in the country, are rapidly disappearing, or are now powered by petrol engines. Occasionally a shaft of sunlight will pierce through the clouds. Shahidul Alam stayed in a fisher’s home for three days to catch this ray of sunshine. Photo: Shahidul Alam

Sher e Khwaja is a religious man who says he has no need of or hankering for money. His home by the Dhanmandi Lake is visited by the country’s leading politicians and visiting international dignitaries. His home shows an aspect of Bangladesh rarely revealed. Photo: Shahidul Alam

Women in green paddy fields, and cows, are a common rural scene. The late afternoon light is also common and known in Bangla literature as kone dekhano alo – ‘light to show off the bride in’. Photo: Main Uddin