. >> reporter: photographer bruce osborn has spent years shooting images of ueko, a japanese term for parent and a child. he assembled 100 last month for his annual photo session in tokyo. >> one, two, three, go! we just have amazing support. every year it gets more and more people behind us. it's very exciting. >> reporter: osborn came to japan in 1980 to do commercial work. he always tried to give his photos a new twist. so when a magazine commissioned him to shoot a japanese punk rocker, he asked the musician to bring along his mother. >> seeing him with his mother, all the sudden my whole idea and feeling about him changed too. and i felt more of an in-depth feeling and i thought, that's really interesting. >> reporter: and so began a series. osborn has photographed more than 5,000 japanese ouyako over the last three decades. one of them was soichi weta, who posed with his parents 11 years ago. he says the experience was surprisingly touching. >> translator: for a brief moment while we were photographed, i felt like i got closer to my parents, and i think that feeling was mutual.