The Restaurant │ NEX-7 & Sigma 30mm F2.8 │ 30mm, ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/50, -0.3EV I took the above shot yesterday evening, after a lovely long walk around Kichijoji. It's the outside of a restaurant, and is really quite beautiful. It's been done in the style of the old edo wood carvings and paintings, which I absolutely love. It really caught my eye, and pleasantly reminded me I am in Japan.
Today was the Japanese "coming of age day", which is effectively a "bank holiday" (aka a day off) here in Japan. Seijin no hi (成人の日) is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January (incidentally this year, it's also the birthday of a very good friend of mine). It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority (20 years old (二十歳 - hatachi) over the past year, and to help them realize that they have become adults. For me, and my co-workers, it was another day at work. Instead, it a wasn't another day of work, because Tokyo had the heaviest snowfall in the last decade, at over 10cm. I was not dressed for this...
and I am glad to be in the warm right now!