Photographer and artist Cameron Peagler will travel across Japan to document a largely unrecognized history of Black and Japanese artistic exchange and the artists shaping it today.

I never imagined that my first international trip would be to Japan, but less than a year after learning about the Japan American Student Conference (JASC), I was handing over my passport to a gate agent.

Hearing from my Japanese community comments like, “Because of you, I will see Black people much differently,” it became clear to me that encouraging more young Black men and women to engage internationally could lead to more positive perceptions and fewer stereotypes.