Miguel Michiro Shimazu, 105, is the last surviving member of the Japanese community of Júcaro, Isle of Youth, Cuba. The community was founded in the early 20th century on the island off Cuba’s southern coast. Miguel, whose real name is Sanrichiro Shimazu Kumazukura, was born on December 24th 1907. He spent six years in the island’s infamous Presidio Modelo jail as a prisoner of war during the Second World War, the same prison where Fidel Castro was incarcerated in 1953.

After I photographed him, he sucked on a cigarette and said: “This means death but I am alive!”