A few favourite photographs…

As of this evening, I’ve uploaded seventy images to my Flickr page, fifteen to my Instagram account and I’ve loads more on my phone’s camera roll, but for one reason or another, some images rise to the top of my consciousness more than others. The shot of two of Tokyo’s fire fighters is one. They typify the friendliness of everyone I have met her, on all three trips.

My next choice was my Blipfoto choice for Friday. I love the light in this shot, the intimacy of the couple and, as usual I find that hats are always a winner with me.

My fascination with railways goes back to my childhood. I’m old enough to recall travelling on a very dark carriage with my mother and brother in the Sixties, and like views of the sea, they always appear to be leading somewhere interesting. This shot taken at Shibuya is a recent favourite.

My trip yesterday to Ueno Park was interesting on a number of levels. I spent some time watching the owner of a small shop, which was more of a shack, cleaning his roof and guttering of leaves that had fallen from the trees above his business. He worked purposefully and took no notice of anything around him while he unblocked guttering and brushed up the debris. This shot is of him on the roof of his shop which backs on to the site of the five storey pagoda built there in 1639 and which survived earthquakes, fire and WWII.

If I have a favourite genre of photography (apart from arty nudes, and pictures of Porsche 356s), it’s night exposures. The shadows and strong lights, colours and shades and sometimes blurry impressions given by just enough detail can be very evocative, and can fire your imagination. This shot, taken this evening, has enough texture and shadow to describe a little of the atmosphere of the alleys and backstreets of this part of Tokyo. What you’re missing in this are the noises from the small neighbourhood bars and the smell of cooking emanating from the countless homes and apartments surrounding me. I can’t help you with that…

More soon…

The First Few Days

…seem to roll into one long period of naps and much wandering without purpose, but then that’s one of the reasons I’m here – to relax. I’ve noticed that I’ve no problem at all getting back to sleep should I wake up, as I’ve nowhere in particular to be… My plans are very loose!

One of the must-dos on my list was to visit Dandelion Chocolate in Kuramae. It is mentioned rightly in a number of articles on independent coffee shops that stand out. Dandelion buy and process their own chocolate on-site and it’s a sight to behold. I’ve only ever been to one other coffee shop attached to a factory of sorts and that was in Sydney, when friends brought me to a place in Balmain (I think!) which had a bakery on-site.

The staff kindly let me take a few pictures while I was there. It’s an impressive operation and the hot chocolate and chocolate oatmeal cookie I had, were outstanding. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Yesterday evening (Wednesday), I went out for a walk down towards Akihabara. Sensibly, the Japanese work on their roads during the night and construction crews were everywhere. I spotted a very shiny truck parked and the front reflected the traffic lights behind me. An artistic thought struck me – doesn’t happen that often. I took this:

Then I noticed the driver having a doze in the cab:

He must have heard me clicking away because then I got this:

Nice friendly chap! More pictures from last night and today here:

Flickr Album

 

 

Belfast to Okachimachi

Mrs P has generously permitted me to travel to Japan for a few weeks. She’s a keeper, obviously, though I imagine she may enjoy the break from me almost as much as I will enjoy returning to Tokyo, and wandering around, drinking coffee and marvelling at the differences in life there and at home in Ireland.

My journey should have started at 06:45 at Belfast’s City Airport but due to Heathrow’s air traffic control system being updated from analogue to digital, we were held on the stand for an additional thirty-five minutes or so.

I call this Corporate Warrior at 31,00ft.

Even with many years and flights under my belt, I still get a buzz from the miracle of flight. Landing at any major airport such at Heathrow is always impressive; the scale of such companies as British Airways, Emirates and others blows me away.

My departure from Gate C55 on BA007 to Haneda, Tokyo was on time. In Terminal 5, the scale of engineering is mind-blowing and a snippet of that can be seen in the photograph above.

Being a slight obsessive, I had chosen which movies I wanted to watch before I left home. I managed to get through Dunkirk (Okay at best) and Downsized (awful), before I enjoyed an excellent Sesame Chicken meal. Then, as  we flew between Murmansk and the Gulf of Ob (no, me neither) at 39,000ft, I started watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. An enjoyable but depressing film is the best way to put it, I think.

The glass of red I had with dinner took it’s toll and I nodded off for two hours or so, wakening around an hour before we landed in Tokyo. An hour after touchdown, I was on board the Haneda Monorail that links the airport to Hamamatsucho Station, and from there it was an easy change to the Yamanote Line to reach Okachimachi Station and a short walk to my hotel.

Cool fedora-wearing dude on the Yamanote Line.

On my 2012 trip to Japan, Australia and the US, I stayed at the Villa Fontaine, Ueno, so I was much more confident this time in finding the hotel. Poor planning on my part, though, as I arrived at the hotel at 09:00 and had to wait six hours for my room to become available. I booked my suitcase and bag into reception and went for a wander.

Okachimachi Park is a delight, and was only 500m away. Here’s a short video that can describe it better than I can.

Okachimachi Park

It is a well used community park with dog walkers, parents with small children, workers on breaks stopping by for a smoke and lots of others, and, like almost everywhere else here, it’s spotless.

After that, it was Starbucks for coffee and another wander. I had unpacked by 15:30 and was in bed for fourteen hours of almost unbroken sleep.

More tomorrow…

Things I Have Learned Over The Last Few Days

Mosquitos love me. I hate them.
The hottest place in the world in August is a Japanese public toilet (but they always have toilet tissue)
Japanese have beautiful children – all of them.
My sense of direction is not as good as I thought it was – according to my feet.
My hotel laundry bill for my first two weeks cost more than my Bullet Train journey last Saturday (£49 v £33!)
Hotel wifi is invariably shite.
I can drink loads of Americanos, despite the heat – but I’ll still be awake at 04:45.
Japanese phone booths have intact phone books – I have seen them.
Losing three stone before coming here in the August heat would have been smart. See next point.
I can sweat for Ireland.
You *always* have the wrong lens on your camera when the best shot of the day comes up.
I miss my family more than I expected to.
I am much more relaxed here, 5869 miles from home, from a personal security point of view.
There are no security tags on alcohol in the shops here. Even on quarter bottles of spirits. Not needed.
It can be difficult to find XXL t-shirts here.
I should have made an effort to learn some (any) Japanese before coming here. It was arrogant and presumptuous not to.

Lastly, some Japanese men in their thirties and forties act very oddly when it comes to Japanese girl pop groups. I watched a group perform on stage at a shopping mall here. 90% of fans were individual men in their 40s who knew when to cheer in time with the song and all the actions to make from their seats. Mesmerising. And really strange.

 

I’m Impressed

Today marks the half way stage of my holiday in Japan. This morning I caught the Nozumi Shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto Station to Tokyo. A distance of 286 miles from station to station in two hours and twenty minutes, for £32.86. Immaculate trains, fully staffed, and providing a snack service; with conductors who bow to each carriage as they leave it, the train feels more like a journey on a full price airline that a railway trip.

Everything is precisely measured and just happens.  Impressive.

Yesterday evening, I may have had too many coffees, as I was “eyes out on stalks” awake, playing chess, Words With Friends and checking Twitter as late as 04:45 this morning. Not clever at all. I’m going to catch up this evening. It’s 19:35 locally and I’ll read a few pages of my Lost Japan book before I nod off. There are a few Shinkansen-related photos in the Flickr album from this morning:

Flickr Week 2

Reality Check

I’ll be honest; I am a little disappointed in Fushimi Inari, the famed temple in south-eastern Kyoto with hundreds of red torii, or temple gates. This stems from two things; the place is absolutely rammed with visitors who are the subjects of a seemingly never ending retail fusillade, and from my expectation of a more spiritual experience, coming from my own naivety. As the busiest Shinto temple site in whole country, I should have expected this to be the case. The lava-like slow movement of the crowd through the tunnel of tightly placed torii is also a claustrophobic experience, especially in the 32°c heat. It is a relief to escape that particular situation. Rather than taking the stock photographs of the empty tunnel of torii disappearing into the distance, I tried a different approach, picking out some details and taking a few photos of less populous areas of the site.

Talking of spirituality; I really don’t have any. I have to say though that I value any opportunity to find a quiet place to clear my head and get my ducks in a row, which is not the same thing. The best, and. most recent place I have found that opportunity is in one of the local Buddhist temples where I took this shot: Baby It may also have something to do with not having had two or three mugs of coffee yet that day, I’m not sure. I’ll be going back though.

Something else of note, while I’m navel gazing; over the last few years, due no doubt to the late onset of maturity in my case, I realised that all of the stuff I gathered over the years means very little in the face of life’s realities. Having the read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and adapting many of Marie Kondo’s recommendations, I found that my whole mindset changed in this regard, for the better. I had a huge clear out of clutter and dumped bags of stuff I didn’t use or need. The difficulty with this now is the daily temptation of the local traditional arts shops here in Kyoto. There are so many woodcut paintings, hanging textiles, beautiful paper and stationery, small carved wooden objects and many other items that I would love to buy, take home and cherish.

It struck me when editing my photographs yesterday (Tuesday) that while I am so very enthused and excited to share my experience, and the many innovations and differences here with my family and friends, I am taking documentary photographs rather than creative shots. I’m going to try to curb my enthusiasm and instead, try to improve the quality.

Lastly for today, I had my first experience of a non-European toilet. I don’t mean to be indelicate, but there are a number of Western things I am glad the Japanese have adopted, at least for tourists. Can’t say I enjoyed the experience, if enjoyed is the right word.

Why Japan?

My family and friends over the past five years have asked me why I so fervently wanted to return to Japan. I imagine I’ve bored them with my standard “it’s just so different and amazing” and “I’d live there if I could” responses, which while vague, were genuine and always enthusiastic.

I realise that I see Japan from a holidaymaker’s perspective and that beneath the fascinating veneer, Japanese face many societal and economic issues. My inclination to see what the Japanese do so well in comparison to us however, leads me to feel more than a little excited at the simplest thing.

Take for example, the construction industry and how it operates here. I watched in awe and some amusement a few days ago when a security guard/safety guy/traffic manager or whatever his job title is, hosed down the mucky wheels of every wheelbarrow and the workers’ boots as they left the door of the construction site to move debris into the back of their gleaming dump truck which was sited about 100m away. This is about respect for the neighbourhood and the people who live there. The guards are invariably well turned out as though it was their first week on the job. The dump truck has shiny alloy wheels and the whole vehicle is sparkling. Construction sites are generally shrouded in while plastic sheeting to reduce dust and noise, and every entrance has its own guard to manage vehicles and workers at the site. Would we consider this too costly? I think so. We’ve gone too far into the profit ethic, while ignoring the impact on others.

The personal pride and self-respect evident in the presentation of the guards, traffic wardens, delivery men, construction and postal workers and many other uniform wearing people here is inspiring.

This self-respect is evident in a few other areas too. So far in Kyoto, I have yet to see a dirty car or truck. They’re not just clean, they’re freshly laundered! Taxis are in showroom condition. Drivers generally wear white gloves and are a very serious looking bunch, but strive to give excellent service. They take an obvious pride in their vehicles.

Another major difference is litter. There simply isn’t any. No litter bins either, as they’re not needed. Japanese don’t litter. They don’t walk about the streets eating or drinking. It is considered rude.

So…you’re standing in the 33° heat waiting for your bus; you’ve bags of shopping and the kids are getting angsty in the heat. There’s no breeze. Some genius came up with the idea of spraying cool misty water on you while you wait. HOW COOL IS THAT? (Sorry) *That’s* good local government.

As well as all of that, it’s a really beautiful city. I’m off out to take some more photographs.

Observations. My Journey East.

I believe that international airline crew have one of the best jobs in the world. The life perspective one can achieve from bending time and dipping in and out of nations, while experiencing such diversity must be liberating, and I imagine addictive. I frequently get caught up in my own “small stuff” mindset, with an insular home and work life. It would be fairly mind-blowing to escape that grind. Hence my trip.

Flying from Dublin airport, via Dubai, I’m in Kyoto for two weeks and then I’m travelling to Tokyo via the Shinkansen, for a further two weeks. Feeling more like five rather than my fifty-five years old, I’m still awed at the miracle of flight. I’m frankly entralled at the technology that permits us to escape gravity and find a point on the other side of the globe, as routinely as catching a bus.

Watching the Emirates Boeing 777’s external camera views during the night over the Straights of Hormuz, I could see dozens of tankers moored 36,oooft below us. A huge expanse of black space all around us domestic astronauts; the sense of being alone together in orbit was shattered only when we banked to land in Dubai and I could see six other aircraft in line behind us. The airport in Dubai is immense. Ferried to the terminal in buses that appeared to be a cross between Brian the Snail from the Magic Roundabout and Chinook helicopters without rotors; the journey took a full fifteen minutes, such is the scale of the airport. We passed a huge number of parked up aircraft, almost all Emirates A380s and 777s. (They have 244 at the moment with another 262 on order — worth US$120 billion)

The second leg started at 02:50 local time. Following another fifteen minute journey out to the Kansai, Osaka-bound 777, I was seated beside a very quiet Japanese in his twenties, who spent the whole flight listening to Stevie Wonder on the in-flight entertainment system, while typing into his laptop. I’d never seen anyone typing kanji characters before. It hadn’t occured to me that kanji keyboards existed. (See “insular” above)

As we flew across Pakistan, a mountain top poked through the cloud cover. I’ve no idea which it was, but it reminded me of the cover of Santana’s Moonflower album. Later over the Yellow Sea the plane made a turn south, perhaps to avoid North Korean airspace, though it all looked very peaceful far below.

We circled around Kansai airport a couple of times, off the coast. There are many fairly big inhabited islands with small sandy inlets and breakwaters, one had an overgrown volcano pointing up at us. Dozens of cargo ships, all empty, riding high in the water, and all pointing south.

I’d like to visit Osaka some day, rather than just passing through. From the air, and from the speeding shuttle bus to Kyoto, it looked beautiful. Particularly as the sun was setting and the light was reflecting off the Rinku Gate Tower, with a bright moon directly behind it. The many warehouses and industrial cranes along the waterfront appeal to my photographic eye, especially with that North Pacific sunset as a backdrop.

My initial impression of Kyoto at night was that I had been reading too many guidebooks featuring Shinto temples, pagodas and torii. A busy modern city; I glimpsed a few sights on the journey though the crowded streets that I’d like to photograph when I get the chance.

A little perspective achieved, at least. It will be a month until I return to my grind.

Christmas Market, Dublin and Winter Nights

I haven’t posted since November 4th, so here goes with an eclectic mix of images taken since then. Mrs P and I were in Dublin in early November, and there are also some shots from Belfast’s Christmas Market as well as a few from just wandering about town. Over November, I was adding some mono images to the Flickr MoNovember group, hence the higher than usual number of monotone shots. There are eleven images in total, so scroll right to the bottom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovering Belfast

Last year, during my world trip for my 50th birthday, I met up with a number of Blipfoto members in Australia when I was staying with Trish and Adele. They were all very welcoming and friendly. Among those Blippers was Christina (Puggle) and this week, she visited Belfast with her friend, Luisa. I was delighted to be able to show them around the city and environs over two days. We managed to include the Victoria Square viewing platform, the City Hall, Queens University’s Lanyon Building, the Botanic Gardens, Sandy Row, Belfast Castle, Scrabo Tower, the Crown Bar, the Europa and the Opera House, Carrickfergus Castle, various political murals in the east and west of the city, Donaghadee (where we ran into Tim Lawrence, Princess Anne’s other half), Bangor, St Anne’s and St Peter’s Cathedrals, the Thompson Dock and Pump House, the Nomadic, viewed the Tesco Metro’s beautiful ceiling and a fair bit more. I think we may have overdone it a little!

I spent most of my time talking rather than photographing the sights, but I have included some of my shots below:

Merchant Banker (Tesco Metro)

 

NOTA!

 

Thompson Graving Dock

 

Scrabo Tower

 

St Peter’s Pews

 

St Peter’s Tiles

 

The Needle

 

Amazing weather too! Hurry back, Christina and Luisa.