A 90-year-old Japanese great-grandmother is breaking the internet with her hilarious selfies, putting her in harm's way, but as she says, "I really don't think about the danger too much."
Kimiko Nishimoto has more than 41,000 followers on Instagram. She goofs up her images by posing on a broomstick like Harry Potter or pretending to be knocked over in an accident. She took up photography at the age of 72 and yes, she is a pro at it now.
Speaking of the dangerous selfies that she clicks, Nishimoto told AFP that she never injured herself while clicking photos and that she loves her camera and never parts with it, even when she goes to bed. She has three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
"At first I didn't even know that my photos were that popular," said Nishimoto.
A decade later, Nishimoto successfully put up her first solo exhibition in her hometown. She started captivating people's attention after she posted the pictures of her daredevil stunts on social media. Such is her stardom that fans had to be shut out of her exhibition held at a Tokyo gallery in December as authorities failed to manage the crowd.
Nishimoto says that she does the daredevil stunts to bring in the fun and thrill factor in her life. She was born in the year 1928 when Emperor Hirohito was enthroned and Mickey Mouse was created by Walt Disney.
The 90-year-old is tech savvy and manages her social media accounts herself while her son is the one behind the camera in most of the deadly shots.
In one of her photos, she is shown having apparently fallen off a bike while a car speeds past and she narrowly escapes a deadly accident. In another, she tries touching a bird while seated on her motorized buggy. In one she is even wrapped in a garbage bag.
Nishimoto is well equipped with modern technology and fancy editing gadgets and her pictures where she is seen 'levitating' sometimes as a fairy or offering prayer to her late husband are a proof of that.
"My husband passed away five years ago but even today I still show him photos I've taken," she said.
Nishimoto now lives with a humanoid robot Pepper, built to accompany elderly people. She believes that taking photos is the key to her happiness.
