Japanese Portrait..or my attempt at taking one.

So I've been postponing this for quite a while - I honestly didn't want to ask any Japanese natives if I could take a picture of them and post it on the internet. Personally, I would have preferred to capture one of my friends...given that I only know most of my Japanese contacts as mere acquaintances, this proved to be a challenge. Since I only know them at a shallow level, it will be hard to capture their "essence", or personality in a photograph they are uncomfortable of me taking.
Well, here it goes.So this is my friend Ami. I tried capturing her in a more natural way than usual - notice the smile is not posed, and she genuinely looks like she is having a good time. I think this captures her "fun" side (yes, that sounds lame, but what else can I say?), because, to me at least, she seems like the goofiest out of all the Japanese girls that I've met so far. I took a few shots of her while she was laughing but, she became more reserved after the first shot, and I decided this was the best to display for her personality. As for the background...not only was it convenient, but she is a native Japanese so, going to a shrine for her portrait fits, right?!

Oh, and can't forget the peace sign.

I thought that I should also note it wasn't hard to negotiate taking her portrait. If anything, we were both lost as to where she wanted to be photographed, what pose, with what items, etc. We eventually mutually came to this conclusion.