I often have Japan on my mind. Not only for the beauty, but also for the amazingly kind and helpful people. My children had told me about it, but I still was overwhelmed.
I loved the streets in our area in Tokyo and Nara. Empty or crowded, morning or evening, the special light and people hurrying by on bicycles. It made me remember our first visits to China – thousands of bicycles in those days (1989)!
The Japanese are very disciplined, queueing patiently for their turn. If you look lost, within a minute, someone is there to help you. Smiling and good humoured. We were very grateful, because it was impossible to find the way with no street names… Our first day here, a truck driver even parked his car and accompanied us all the way to our hotel.
That first day, we went to Tokyo Sky Tree, as we wanted to see Tokyo by night from above. I have posted on it earlier – an experience to be recommended.
But, when we tried to find our way back through the darkening streets (they still had no visible names ), we realised we were lost.
And there was noone out in the street to ask. The shops were closed, so no chance there either. My husband is usually good at walking in the most probable direction…but not this time.
We kept walking, rather tired now, when I saw this shop – a must have photo. Strangely enough it cheered us up!
That is just another wonder with Japan – you don’t have to be afraid of empty streets or dark places. Not at all. A taxi would not have been wrong though, for tired legs.
We finally came across a biking man who could direct us towards Asakusa, where we lived. We realised we were kilometers away from our hotel. And hungry. It was one of those sooo good moments to be back in our own street!
Lost again? No, the bamboo forest is like an uplit highway through the grass – for it is a grass – that is fast-growing and very versatile. From bowls to knickers! I guess all of us have got something made of bamboo in our homes. And it is such a beautiful plant too with its marked stems and thin leaves. I hope not all of these were planted the same year, because bamboo dies when it has flowered. And it only flowers once.
More of Japan will pop up over time – it is one of the most special places I have ever visited.
Ritva is our host this week, and common objects are in focus – making them shine. Please visit Ritvas amazing site with some brilliant inspiration!
I will start in Japan – with Shinkansen and
some ordinary umbrella stands. The Japanese can give anything mundane a fascinating glow, so, no credit to my photography…
Next gallery was made from my home, indoors photos. I have used close-ups, fisheye lens, high key pictures and B&W.
Let’s go out in the garden to enjoy the little things! Clothes pegs in the evening light as well as caught by the vine, the top of my empty watering can, a spider’s web against the greenery, a tomato plant, a tiny orchid in the dark…and a Solomon’s Seal.
Many thanks to Anne for her brilliant hosting of last week’s Shorelines challenge. The beautiful shorelines washed away all our troubles and wrinkled foreheads! I hope you will join us next week too, when Egídio will be our guide. Until then, take care and enjoy life!
Leanne Cole is our fantastic host this week, and she invites us to show what the normal tourist wants to see – but in another way. ”You might go to the same place, but you are after something different.”
So her challenge is to look for those photos that are of tourist attractions, but where we have tried to get the untypical image of it. They can be near or far away in other countries.
I have just returned from a trip to England, so I am a bit late, but here we go…with Japan! Japan was a delightful country to visit this spring, and the first gallery shows some famous attractions – my way:
The superfast Shinkansen train, Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto (Inari is the god of rice and sake and the messenger is a fox), Kawachi Fujien (The world famous wisteria garden in Kitakyushu), the Shibuya crossing in rain (- the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world with about 2300 crossings every 3,3 minute) and lastly, Tokyo Sky Tree.
From Sweden then, not that many:
Stockholm in double exposure (City Hall and Central Station). The Doll Museum was closed, but my shot was taken through the window.
Thank you to Tina for her beautiful and thought provoking challenge on Habitats two weeks ago, and I hope you all had a lovely week off too! Thank you again to Leanne Cole for leading us this week – please visit her site for always amazing photography.
I hope you want to join in next week when our next guest host, Elizabeth of Albatz Travel Adventures, challenges us to share Pairs.
He will run safely with you through the streets – don’t worry! And here’s a gallery with old and new – A tram conductor in white gloves, real people, stiff dolls and and pop-ups.
Then teamLab Planets Tokyo – a fantastic experience in led lights, water, mirrors, film and much more. You lose yourself all the time – using all your senses. Exciting, and especially appealing to young people. We spent some interesting hours there.
The Japanese culture is very much beauty and refined custom – but also so much more. What do you think is hiding behind these glass doors?
Pachinko! Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan. It is used as an archade game and for gambling. These parlors are widespread in Japan, and is comparable to slot machine palaces in the West. Althought it has now declined in popularity, in 1994 the sales and revenues from Pachinko parlors contributed 5.6% of Japan’s 500 trillion yen GDP and employed 330000 people. (Wikipedia)
Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, but the popularity has enabled a legal loophole allowing it to exist.
Machines for children wanting toys and candy? We have some quite similar ones here in the West.
In Japan, Karaoke is extremely popular – and maybe posing with pretty girls! This guy posed with paper girls, happily smiling, while his little son ran away from the scene – I wonder why…
I must post a piece of the young Japanese literature and film culture too. Anime. Manga. And a couple of girls dressed in stylish street fashion. (There are MANY styles – from Dolly Key to Genderless)
There’s no end to the popularity of these stories and charachters in Japan – you see them everywhere. In Sweden they enjoy massive attention. I know. My daughter and her friends still watch some of those movies, and I have watched a couple of them, because I wanted to understand why youngsters love them. In fact I found them very intricate, well written, and morally and ethically wise. But on the other hand, I haven’t seen them all…
Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece Spirited Away teaches friendship, love and bravery in a universal way which made the movie famous world wide. I must say I liked it. It is worth seeing even if you are an adult or an elderly person.
Egidio goes for rectangles, and once again I’m finding I’m following a compositional rule without knowing it! He challenges us to show how we use rectangles in our photographs and how they help our composition.
This is an image from Cisternerne in Denmark, an underground water reserve.
It is somewhat similar too these beautiful Tori’s in Japan.
I don’t know if you can say these are rectangular – because they end up in a curve – but, yes, I think they are.
Back home, these are strawberry tents, covering up the plants to make them grow faster.
And there are loads of rectangles in this one, caught at Kyoto Railway Station, Japan.
These three images are from Fredriksborg Castle in Denmark. The left one is a mirror in a dark room, in the middle is the fantastic Chapel and the last one is a narrow alcove in the same castle.
These two reflections stand out to me.
The garden is Ashikaga Wisteria Garden. We went in the evening to see it lit up.
Some favourites from that night in the wisteria garden.
So, we would love to see your photos with two rectangles. Let your creativity flow. And please remember that pingbacks do not work on Egidio’s site. You need to put your link in the comments. The “lens-artists” hashtag makes it easier for others to find your post too.
Last week, Ritva focused on backgrounds and how they affect our composition. What beautiful images you shared! Excellent and creative. Next week, Tina will share another fascinating challenge on Saturday, 12 noon (EDT in the USA). Stay tuned. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history.
As those who follow her know, Lens-Artists team member Donna of Wind Kisses is taking a break from blogging for personal reasons. She will be very much missed but, hopefully be with us again before too long. We wish Donna and her family only the best, as our thoughts are with all of them.
This bust in Kokura Castle intrigued me. The man’s name was not possible to read, neither was the artist’s name. They were only written in Japanese, and there was nobody to ask about it.
I walked past him several times, as he was standing (if a bust can stand?) close to the entrance gate. Each time I felt someone was watching me. It was something with his eyes.
I know about (and have seen such paintings) Renaissance painters who could paint eyes that seemingly followed you, but sculptures? They say it is about how the iris is placed against the white part of the eye. Anyhow, he was creepy. And in my picture, the surrounding photographic blur mirrors the look in his eyes.
What are your thoughts? Have you experienced something similar? Has someone got a further explanation to the phenomenon?
Leya 
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