Late last year I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in Japan on business. Between meetings, presentations, site visits and functions I just about always had a camera with me. Either the Pentax K5 or the Canon S95…or sometimes both!
Prior to this trip, I’d never been to Japan before, didn’t really know what to expect, but definitely looking forward to experiencing something different. Well, Japan certainly caught me by surprise!
Japan was so different – in the best possible way. I’ve never been anywhere where everything was so busy, but everything just worked so reliably, and where everyone was calm and polite. Helpful if you’re lost and very tolerant of the conspicuous foreigner gesticulating and mispronouncing the odd sentence of Japanese when trying to communicate. Not to mention politely stepping around or not running me over on their bicycles when I stopped all of a sudden to make a take a picture.
What a great place! I loved the mix of old and new architecture, gardens dotted around Tokyo, the noodle shop at Hamamatsucho Station, the crazy fashion, the fact that camera and audio shops stock things you’d struggle to find in a catalogue in Australia, MAP Camera!, meeting a Leica shooter who’s passionate about his craft and heading out on a photo walk, good sake, umeshu, the interesting mix of adapting western objects and things to eastern sensibilities, Japanese custom culture, the crazy music played at railway stations all over town when trains stop and all the friendly people I met. I’d go back there in a flash given half a chance.
The result of all that is quite a few images of my experience in Japan I’d like to share. Hope you enjoy My Japan as these memories and images pop up in my feed.
Norman
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