Japan
A common occasion of my photos is that I am using business trips for my day to day job to take my photos. I try to add a week or two of vacation and the company usually is fine with that.
Japan was on my list of countries for a long time. A business workshop led me to Tokyo and after consulting different photo and tourist websites I found the street of Omoide Yokocho.
Omoide Yokocho, a maze of narrow alleys close to the West Exit of Shinjuku Station, stands in stark contrast to all the bright and clean modern environs of the station. Tiny restaurants and open barbecue food stalls spill their smoke, noise and greasy steam over alleys hardly wide enough to stretch out your arms.
The buildings are old and mostly run down, the food stalls very traditional, the visiting crowd multilingual. At dinner time, when it gets most crowded here, tired Tokyo office workers relax with a beer and a few sticks of yakitori chicken at the food stalls, sitting next to excited tourists chattering loudly in Chinese, Cantonese, English or Korean. (japan-experience.com)
The buzzing city of Tokyo can be overwhelming with millions of people walking the city streets. I am used to big cities but Tokyo is something different.
I´ve liked the vibe in the city, the from time to time crazy style of clothes or rather costumes the people wear out on the streets. It´s not as crazy as the media might suggest but here and there you might come across a person wearing a Pikachu costume.
The Town and Sea Promenade in Tokyo around the Odaiba Statue of Liberty is a place I chose to relax a bit while being in the city. Locals, of course, know more secluded areas to relax but the area was quiet even though many people had the same idea as me. The location is perfect though to capture the sunset and take a picture of the Rainbow Bridge.
(wiki) The Rainbow Bridge (レインボーブリッジ, Reinbō Burijji) is a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato, Tokyo.
The towers supporting the bridge are white in color, designed to harmonize with the skyline of central Tokyo seen from Odaiba. There are lamps placed on the wires supporting the bridge, which are illuminated into three different colors, red, white and green every night using solar energy obtained during the day.
After 2 weeks in Japan working and traveling by the Shinkansen train network (wiki) to Kyoto and Osaka, I decided to go for the last walk through Tokyo before flying back to Barcelona. The park ground of the royal palace wasn´t too far from the hotel I stayed at and a stroll in the evening through the park with my camera was just a nice ending to my Japan trip.
I chose this location as the reflections of the city lights and of the Tokyo Midtown Hibiya building in the calm water were just perfect.
The guards of the royal palace aren’t too happy though when walking around with a tripod and camera on the park grounds. With the palace guards, armed with impressive weapons, I took this picture and left satisfied with the outcome and happy that this time I haven´t had any encounter with the police.
I´ve spent in Japan 2 fantastic weeks with so many different impressions of that country. Colleagues of mine that have been already in Japan of course suggested to visit Kyoto as it´s the cultural and spiritual center of the country.
Kyoto is for sure one of the highlights of every photographer visiting this country. The fact that it´s the cultural center however means that the city is packed with tourists (pre-Covid 19) and that you need to get up very very early to get the photo you like to have.
The positive side of it is that you can enjoy the hundreds of temples in Kyoto in silence and peace. It´s not only good while taking the picture but you can enjoy the locations for once without constantly having people around. In that moment I am of course a tourist as well, but luckily most of the tourists don´t get up at 3am just to be the first one at the spot.
The Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine and the connected area of the Senbon Torii (千本鳥居) have been captured as photos many times and is probably one of the most repeated pictures on platforms such as Instagram. If you walk further into the area though you will find more and different motives other than the very start of the Senbon Torii.
Connected to the Torii gate area is as well a Bamboo forest which I´ve discovered together with another fellow photographer.
The Kiyomizu-dera temple and the Three-Story Pagoda (清水寺 三重塔) is probably the most visited temple area of Kyoto but definitely worth a visit.
The best time of the year is probably autumn when it´s not too warm anymore and the leaves of the trees turn into every possible color.
The temple area unfortunately is packed with tourists from all over the world and you really have to fight for your spot when taking pictures. You might need to wait for the right time for people not walking through your picture but it´s worth waiting a few minutes.
While being in Japan I found out then a former colleague of mine was on vacation with her family in Japan. We´ve used the occasion to meet and Osaka is just 10 minutes with the Shinkansen train from Kyoto.
Osaka is the second-largest city in Japan and people say the better Tokyo. Osaka is famous for its nightlife and for its rich, diverse, and delicious food. The most famous food of Osaka might be Okonomiyaki, a savory pancake dish consisting of wheat flour batter and other ingredients cooked on a teppan. Common additions include cabbage, meat, and seafood, and toppings include okonomiyaki sauce, aonori, katsuobushi, Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger. The ingredients differ from city to city this dish is just delicious, but anything but healthy.
The Osaka castle is more or less in the heart of the city. The castle itself burnt down several times during its time so that today only a reconstruction of the “old” castle is visible. It acts as a museum, I don´t recommend though to visit. The surrounding park is perfect for a photo during autumn.
You can easily walk from the castle into the buzzing center of the citi’s district of Dotonbori (道頓堀) to finish the day with freshly cooked food or a night out with friends.