Long summer evenings

I fancied a change today. I blew the dust off my NEX-7 and took the excellent Cosina Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 out for a spin. A change of focal length & camera is like changing your route to work; unfamiliar and rewarding.

Discovering new things because you're looking at the world differently, is what makes long summer evenings especially long when we're children. The life of an adult is full of responsibilities, such as going to work to pay the bills. Something as simple as changing the route to work every now and then, can make the entire experience more memorable. I've actually arrived in the office with no real recollection of my commute. It's automated by my subconscious to such a level that my conscious self only interjects when necessary. Living a conscious life is one thing (apparently) separating us from other animals, and zombies. 

Anyway, I took my "old"  camera out today, and wanted to get a few shots around Tokyo. I took quite a few, so I'll post my favourites over the next few days. Going back to my old camera was like putting on a pair of old shoes. After 5 minutes, I was back in the saddle, using the tri-navi controls to my advantage. 

Summer evenings in Japan never feel long, but this one did. 

Bamboo

竹 │ NEX-7 & Voightländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, 1/60, ISO 1600, f/1.4, Lightroom 4.2

Bamboo, or "ta-ke", is native to Japan, and can be found everywhere from gardens and temples, to bowls of ramen (it's quite delicious!). It grows both in the wild and is part of landscape gardens and inner-city planning, to the extent that I don't know if any bamboo in and around Tokyo is actually wild. The same goes for all the trees here, really. Tokyo is breathtakingly huge, and its designation as the largest metropolitan area in the world (source) means that human influence oozes out from every nook and cranny. Having said that, every now and then, we do find areas which, quite obviously, have been left as they are (such as a building with a tree going through it - yes, I need a photo).

Old Lady

Lovely weather again this morning. Walking from Akihabara to Hongo after treating Charlotte to a birthday Starbucks breakfast, the air was crisp and the streets full of life. A bright, crisp morning is a very welcome way to start the day. Must be my British colours showing, as I find this kind of weather absolutely ideal. Speaking of colours - Autumn is in full swing and I intend to get to a park this weekend and take some photos of leaves (probably sounds more boring than it will be).

Apartment hunting. Well, that's stopped. We visited a decent place on Saturday, but as there was no deposit, we were expected to pay a guarantor company a fee equal to one month's rent. That's on top of the one month's rent agent fee, 1 month's rent err.. rent, and insurance. Then come moving costs, and.... time. Lots and lots of time. The weather was utterly insane on Saturday. Huge amounts of rain (one pair of shoes ruined) and generally miserable. I'd woken up feeling as if I had drunk 10 vodkas due to the dryness in the air overnight (I'll be buying a humidifier soon - a departure from the damp Autumn and Winter in the UK!), and then after seeing the apartment, we were in two minds over what to do. After much deliberating and discussions, we decided to stay put and sign the contract to remain where we are, even though Charlotte's commute is almost 2hours one-way (not that uncommon in Tokyo).

Anyway, we'll be staying where we are. That means I'll continue to walk this same path most evenings, seeing the different characters inhabiting this corner of Tokyo. This old lady (no disrespect intended) was walking towards the greengrocers behind me, as I was walking to work. I had my camera at waist height, and set to 5m focus, aperture of f/2. I was amazed at the result. This is a crop of the original photo, as I wasn't holding the camera as level as I thought, and there was an unsightly cone further to the right, but I'm rather pleased with the result. There's something about the older generation - especially in Japan - which makes them extremely photogenic. There's a whole tapestry of life on her face, as she one-eye squints at my camera, wondering what on earth this foreigner is up to.

Hometime

Hometime │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, 1/100, ISO 1600, f/4, -2.9EV, Lightroom 4.2 Hometime. I remember that word. Is it a real word? Perhaps. I don't remember saying it after around the age of 15-16 years old. Hometime. It usually meant leaving the confines of school at around 3pm or so, and going home, to essentially complete freedom. No bills to pay, no food to prepare, nothing to do other than whatever my brother and I wanted. Football for 2 hours before tea? Sure! Cricket? No problem. Tennis in the road before the rush hour? Your serve. Then after tea... more fun. Maybe a little homework... I can't remember so well. Spot of TV and then bedtime.

Hometime. Now, "hometime" is around 7pm. Luckily though, we live in Tokyo. Downside is  - I have to play sardines every single morning and night when getting on a train. Upside is the culture, food and general conveniences in the metropolis. Of course, now I have a swish computer and a super duper camera. When I was 15 I didn't have either. I also didn't consume nearly an entire bottle of Rioja on a Friday night with my evening meal. I wouldn't trade one for the other, but it's good to have had both experiences.

I wonder what lies ahead.

Rust

Rust │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/60, 0EV Autumn is definitely on the way, with rainy showers a frequent occurrence. Temperatures have dropped to as low* as 17℃, though it's around 25℃ when stood in the lunchtime sun. Today is a national holiday "Health and Sports day" (体育の日), which commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics being held in Tokyo, and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle (though I'll be finishing my day out with a beer).

Yesterday, we visited Kamakura (鎌倉), mainly to visit the Giant Buddha (大仏). On our way, I saw the rusted old building in the above photo. The rusting, shop sign and corrugated iron really stood out to me, and as I am trying to get more into street photography, I thought I'd take a snap. The shop is URADANA, (website, twitter), specialising in rather funky and cool clothing. If you're in the area, please check it out :)

Of course, I couldn't say I visited the Giant Buddha of Kamakura, and not post a photo of said Buddha.... so here it is (and it's very rusty to boot):

Obligatory Wikipedia information:

The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a monumental outdoor bronzestatue of Amitābha Buddha located at the Kōtoku-in Temple in Kamakura,Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The bronze statue probably dates from 1252, in the Kamakura period, according to temple records. It was preceded by a giant wooden Buddha, which was completed in 1243 after ten years of continuous labor, the funds having been raised by Lady Inada (Inada-no-Tsubone) and the Buddhist priest Jōkō of Tōtōmi. That wooden statue was damaged by a storm in 1248, and the hall containing it was destroyed, so Jōkō suggested making another statue of bronze, and the huge amount of money necessary for this and for a new hall was raised for the project. The bronze image was probably cast by Ōno Gorōemon or Tanji Hisatomo, both leading casters of the time. At one time, the statue was gilded. There are still traces of gold leaf near the statue's ears.  It is unclear, however, whether the statue constructed in 1252 is the same statue as the present statue.

Details

• Weight; 121 tonnes (270,000 pounds)
• Height; 13.35 m (43.8 ft)
• Length of Face; 2.35 m (7.7 ft)
• Length of Eye; 1.0 m (3.3 ft)
• Length of Mouth; 0.82 m (2.7 ft)
• Length of Ear; 1.90 m (6.2 ft)
• Length from knee to knee; 9.10 m (29.9 ft)
• Circumference of thumb; 0.85 m (2.8 ft)

The statue is referred to as "The Buddha at Kamakura" in several verses that preface the initial chapters of the novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901). The verses were taken from the poem of the same name the author wrote after visiting Kamakura in 1892. The poem appears in its entirety in "The Five Nations" of 1903.

*In the UK, a mid-morning October temperature of 17℃, would never be referred to as low.

Mt. Takao

Mt. Takao │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/800 On Saturday morning, we took a train from central Tokyo to Mt. Takao at the western edge of Tokyo. We walked for a few hours to the summit of the mountain, at around 600m, where I took this picture showing the dramatic topography that comprises Japan. It's something one cannot see in the UK, as the land back home is either rolling hills or reclaimed flatlands. It's also very pleasant to have such a few just an hour or so from central Tokyo, where only a few square metres of skyline can be observed from ground level due to the imposing skyscrapers.

It's a pleasant walk, and one of the few times one will walk around Kanto area saying "konnichiwa" to passers by. Though a popular and relatively busy route, people out for a walk always have a "hello" to say. Of course this couldn't happen in downtown Tokyo, otherwise we'd lose our voices!

Roughly in the centre of the photo, one can make out Mt. Fuji. Sitting flat-topped above the clouds, Mt. Fuji's 3776m summit is often visibile on a clear day. Very soon the mountain's familiar snow-cap will return, as temperatures at the summit plummet to below zero. Typhoon 17 (台風１７号) hit Tokyo yesterday, bringing heavy rain and severe winds. Today is the day after the storm; beautiful blue sky with not a cloud in sight.

From Wikipedia:

Mount Takao (高尾山 Takao-san) is a mountain in the city of Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. It is protected within Meiji no Mori Takao Quasi-National Park.

Standing 599 metres (1,965 ft) tall and located within an hour of downtown Tokyo, it is a popular hiking spot, with eight hiking courses and more than 2.5 million annual visitors. The Tama Forest Science Garden is also located at the mountain's base.

Mount Takao is closely associated with tengu, minor kami from Japanese folklore, and the daitengu Naigubu. A Buddhist temple, Takaosan Yakuōin Yūkiji, is located on the mountain.