It's been 10 years since I first visited Japan. Fortunately, it's now a big part of my life.
Read More10 years // １０年間
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Tokyo
That familiar feeling
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Business trip to Tokyo :)
Read MoreUp early
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Woke up just before 6am this morning, to help Charlotte get the express train to the airport from the other side of Tokyo. Tokyo's Narita Airport is quite far from the centre of Tokyo - be warned! Don't get a taxi there. I've heard some horror stories. Anyway, up early, carrying bags, so I wanted a light camera with me. I took the NEX-7, which is pretty light, mated to the excellent Sigma 30mm F2.8, which I haven't used a lot recently due to the possession of the exquisite Zeiss 24mm. The Sigma is smaller, and lighter, so it was my choice for this morning.
The crop above is just about only the top half of the original image. The sharpness really impresses me with this lens! This morning, the weather was completely overcast, but the sun is still strong and manages to turn everything into a very hazy yellow hue. The sky is all but obliterated, but there wasn't anything really to see anyway; it's mostly just scattered light bouncing around the cloud cover.
I walked from Nippori Station, to the University, choosing back allies rather than the suggested fastest route (right). I am usually first into the office anyway, but there was little chance of anyone beating me this morning!
The empty streets give a serenity often missing from daily Tokyo life, with its general hustle-bustle, cramped streets, rooms, and trains. The odd salaryman (Japanese for a generic business man) would walk past, and a few shop keepers were cleaning their store-fronts, or putting out produce. There was the odd shout of "Irasshai!" ("Welcome!"), and the odd squark of a crow.
Bubby's | NEX-7 & Canon nFD 50mm F1.4| 50mm, f/4, 1/60, ISO250, RAW
Bubby's Pie & Coffee
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Firstly, I'd like to apologise to anyone receiving a huge amount of emails from my site over the last week. I've had a problem with Wordpress plugins, which resulted in my site's server actually being shut down numerous times. Totally suspended without any access; I'm currently looking at my options to avoid this in the future. Part of my plan involves changing server, and completely changing the look of the site to a more modern theme. Stay tuned!
I've never actually been to New York, but I've had New-York style foods all over the world. Bagels, cheesecakes, pies, coffee... a whole manner of tastiness can be found inside Bubby's. There's one in Yokohama (the one we went to) and one in central Tokyo. Check them out if you have time!
At this point, I'd like to recommend the excellent blog by Alex Irmscher "dybydy-phtgrphy", as Alex has recently been to New York. Please checkout his excellent photos.
Like a meadow | NEX-7 & SEL24F18Z | 24mm, 1/160, f/4.5, ISO100, RAW
Koishikawa Botanical Gardens
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The Koishikawa Botanical Gardens(小石川植物園) are botanical gardens operated by the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Science (coincidentally, where I work).
They are located in Bunkyo ward in central Tokyo, and are open daily except Mondays. Entrance is ¥330 (£2.15), and one should note that the admission fee is paid in the small convenience store across the road, in exchange for a lovely coupon.
The gardens date to 1684, when the 5th Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi, established the Koishikawa Medicinal Herb Garden. In 1877, after the Meiji Restoration, they became a part of the university and the birthplace of Japanese botanical research.
The gardens' collections contain some 4,000 plant species, including 1,400 hardy woody species, 1,500 hardy herbaceous species, and 1,100 tropical and subtropical species. The main attraction at this time of year is the numerous species of rhododendron - or tsutsuji in Japanese.
... and it wasn't just us tourists interested in them!
Purple
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Shinjuku
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Shinjuku | NEX-7 & SEL18200LE | 97mm, 1/8s, f/10.0, ISO100, RAW [Lightroom edited] Shinjuku is the neo-Tokyo at the forefront of most people's minds. Come here on a rainy day, and you'll think you've stepped into Bladerunner. though we're still waiting for the flying cars. It's not rare to see the horizon, or further than 500 metres... it's nigh on impossible. Skyscraper central. Old and new. Shops going up 10 stories, restaurants going up 11. One can't walk around here as one does back home. One must look up. One must embrace neck ache.
Shinjuku houses the world's busiest train station, but more on that another time. I pass through, or under, Shinjuku each day. Sometimes I'll meet Charlie there for a bite to eat, sometimes I will go and look in electronics shops until 10pm... Shinjuku never sleeps. It's the town of neon. There are some temples, tucked away, in between car-parks and tall buildings, but for the most part, Shinjuku is a life-size Lego city. Stacked to ridiculous proportions, like some kind of Goliath game of Jenga.
It's easy to spot the twin-towered government building (Tocho), which gives generous views to the west. Here, it's in the top left. There's the cocoon:
Shinjuku is an absolute melting pot of activity. I don't think there's any chance that we could eat in every restaurant in Shinjuku in our lifetime... if we ate out for every single meal. There are thousands. Coffee served all through the night, too. Ah, I'll miss this place when I live somewhere without trains. Somewhere without 7-storey camera stores. It's far too easy for me to take it for granted. I guess that happens to all of us, as one point or another. Complacency, a dangerous thing!
P.S. The main shot was inspired by Holger Feroudj. Please check out his fantastic website.
Bag
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Bag | NEX-C3 & Canon nFD 50mm F1.4 | 50mm, f/1.4, 1/60 , ISO 200, RAW
I recently discussed on Google+ which bags I use to carry my photography gear, depending on the amount of stuff, weather, and my general feelings at the time. Sometimes I just take the camera itself, other times I will take two bodies and a few lenses. I usually prefer to just have one lens per day as it's simply less hassle.
My NEX-C3 (used to take these photos), is so small that I just sling it into my work bag (above). Working in Tokyo, I quickly became used to walking. Lots of walking. Few people drive, and as such, few people are fat. Also, everyone has a bag. A bag is very practical. In the UK, I would no doubt be ridiculed for carrying such a bag. Only messenger bags and backpacks have any sort of social acceptability. Phrases such as "manbag" are all too common to describe anything which isn't the humble backpack. I don't concern myself with such matters. An attaché briefcase would be far too formal, as I do not wear a suit. A rucksack would make me look as if I were going to school, or go climbing, yet I am dressed smart-casual (I'd call it casual, but I'm wearing trousers and a shirt... not jeans & heavy metal t-shirt). The bag fits. More importantly, things fit in the bag.
If I take the NEX-7 to work, I usually put my small Jonelle bag inside, to protect it a little more. I've opened up the Jonelle bag to show the NEX-7 (and SEL18200LE attached) inside my work bag, with my wallet, Nexus 7, USB cables, power pack, and a few other things. Sometimes I put a laptop inside, but I rarely need to.
How do you travel to work? Do you have a bag?
Final Blossoms
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Final Blossoms | NEX-7 & SEL24F18Z | 1/1250, f/2.2, ISO100, 24mm, RAW
The final blossoms are falling here in Tokyo, making way for the lush greens of the upcoming rainy season. There have been some collossal winds, and a bit of rain, so not many blossoms remain. The beginning of this week had some gorgeous sunlight, though. It was a little cloudy today, but the weather looks a little better this weekend, so I'll have my NEX batteries charged.
Power
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Power | NEX-7 & SEL18200LE | 124mm, f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/200, RAW The setting sun behind this natural gas storage facility reminds me that we're so dependent on fossil fuels. Solar cells and wind turbines are only any good when it's sunny or windy, respectively. After reading that an underground reservoir tank the much troubled nuclear power plant in fukushima sprung a leak, the photograph I took last night has new meaning.
Japan leads the world in technological progression, with many companies specialising in solar tech itself. A friend of mine is hassled by solar-tech salesmen on an almost weekly basis. An entire town here in Japan has "gone solar" since the nuclear disaster. But what to do? People are scared of nuclear power, yet the same people don't want to compromise on their lifestyles. If the fusion mystery truly is solved, it would change the world. Before that, though, they'll have the ominous job of explaining to joe-public why this is a safe nuclear, and the ones before it are dangerous. Simply renaming it "Sun-in-a-box" might be easier.
Oh, by the way, if you click the little arrow shape underneath "contact me" in the top-right of this site, you'll make the image on any page fullscreen!
Every cloud...
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Every cloud... | NEX-7 & SEL18200LE | 115mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/2000, RAW
...has a silver lining. Saturday was a complete wash-out. We knew it would be; our phones told us. At its peak, I think the rain reached 40mm/hour... which is a lot. However, Tokyo is basically prepared for such events. Luckily, the Government has poured its money (no pun intended) into colossal drainage systems, ensuring floods are a rarity. Sure, such spending has put japan further into debt, but these days, my very understanding of money is being challenged.
Anyway, we went out drinking with friends on Friday night, with no intention of moving from bed until Saturday afternoon. We ventured out, I had my haircut, and then we stocked up on wine, beer, cheese, biscuits, and enough food for the rest of the weekend. Saturday was spent watching films, playing computer games, drinking good wine, and eating lots of cheese. I also had a couple of white russians. Not bad, really!
We'd been told that Sunday was to have extremely high winds, and sure enough, bikes were being blown down the street (along with everything else), and the wind was howling at around 70-100 kph. A little blustery! One decent side-effect of the strong wind was the removal of the rain clouds, leaving behind fast-moving, but much more photogenic, cumulous clouds. We went for a late-afternoon walk just before sunset, and I took this shot from just outside our front door. The temperature is around 20°C right now, and I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of the cold northerly winds. I've put my big coats away, and I'm trying to remember how I usually dress in the spring.
Down to a T
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Down to a T | NEX-7 & SEL24F18Z | 24mm, f/2, ISO 400, 1/100, RAW
I've just figured out how to publish an image properly on my blog, keeping its RSS information intact. Sweet.
Later today I'll try something else; editing and posting from my Nexus 7. I'm writing this on my Nexus 7 right now, but this photo was uploaded from my computer last night.
More about the photo... it's one of the many walls of the Tsutaya in Daikanyama. Tsutaya is a book, music, game, and film rental chain in Japan, which is still very much popular in this digital age. Buying goods at other shops with a compatible credit card around Japan, will get you store credit here. The so-called "T-Point" can be found in many shops and coffee places, giving a strong incentive to pay a visit to Tsutaya for your next media fix.