It has been a relatively draining week on all aspects of my brain and body. I have been in annoying physical pain for about three days due to the mother of all toothaches (a small part of me wanted to write teethaches there). Whatever reasons there are anyway, I have been sleeping badly and have had no chance to write this post. Or even have any thoughts about what to write about. So I'm going to post some photos of my trip to Japan that I took in December 2012. If you're friends with me on facebook, you probably will have seen a lot of these before, but that's kind of your fault.
On a side note, I have, however, this week, produced some work that is going to be potentially going to be used as a piece of album artwork (for one of the songs on an iTunes released album and in the booklet of the physical copy) and also a portrait piece that should be being shown at an exhibition evening in May. More on those in a future post maybe.
Anyway. Here are a handful of photos which I took that I like that remind me of things I did there that make me think of how much fun it was and how much of a massive experience it was for me. The images fall somewhere between pure holiday photos for my own memory and something a bit more special that I would be proud to show people. As a photographer, you're always looking for the best image of anything you're shooting, even if you're just taking an image purely for recollective purposes.
Bright, shiny, beautiful Tokyo
Streets like this (not this exact one) are pretty much what I saw as soon as I got off of my subway train in Tokyo to meet my sister. It might have been the 11 hour flight and the lack of sleep and the absurd amount of films I watched on the way over, and I know this sounds stupid, but I was completely bowled over with joy at just how much Tokyo looked like I had imagined ("We're not even in central Tokyo. It gets better than this.") The signs were neon, the whole area we were in was weirdly empty for that time of night, the smell of delicious food coming from each side street we passed. There was something about those thin, tall side streets that just did it for me, with their hanging lanterns and occasional foliage. I can't really explain it, but I was incredibly excited and jet lagged at the same time. Kind of like if you have a big coffee when you're tired and hungover, your body and brain is trying to deal with all these different things at once.
I guess I had some thoughts on the flight that I would be really disappointed for one reason or another after wanting to visit for so long. Hyping something up too much in your head and all.
Fran, probably lit by the light of a convenience store
The other thing that was exciting, apart from actually being in Japan and seeing my sister for the first time in a year, was that my amazingly good friend Fran, who I also hadn't seen in a very long time, was going to be in Tokyo also. Obviously, much fun was had, and it was great to have another friendly face to ease me into the culture and teach me basic Japanese phrases on long subway rides.
Shinjuku Station. Fuckin' huge
I loved the Tokyo Underground system. It might have just been that the trains are about three times as big as the underground trains in London, or it might have been that their version of London's 'Oyster' card had a penguin on it, but I thought it was great. And just after two days of being in Japan, I was navigating it on my own like a pro. This photo is of Shjnjuku station, apparently the busiest train station in the world, clocking in with 36 platforms and over 200 exits (according to wikipedia).
I also loved how mental the Tokyo underground map was.
Brilliant
Seeing that I mentioned a penguin in my last paragraph, here's a penguin from Toyko Aquarium.
I like to imagine this penguin is not actually in water, but flying through the air towards me
Yup, that's a penguin. For some reason I have an obscene amount of photos of penguins from Tokyo Aquarium. I don't even know why.
Moving on...
Winds over Neo-Tokyo
This is one of my favourite images from my trip, and it also happens to be one of my most viewed and favourited photos on my flickr account ever. It was featured on alafista.com's daily feature "Today's Japan Photo" a few months ago. So yay. It was taken up the top of the Tokyo Skytree, which is just a bloody huge observation tower. On a clear day, which sadly it was not, you can see Mt. Fuji. So many of the buildings are tall in Toyko that there's not many places where you can really just take in the mind blowing vastness of the entire city. It just stretches off in every direction.
Waiting for Cat Bus
A trip to the Studio Ghibli museum was probably one the most magical experiences of my life. Apart from the museum shop, that was definitely one of the more terrifying experiences. The whole museum is not only a tribute to the creative work of Miyazaki and all those involved in the studio, but also a huge homage to the art of animation and film itself. There is a room that includes a little study of three or four animation styles, including some crazy live-stop motion animation achieved with strobe lighting, culminating in a short piece of work from the early days of the studio about the evolution of man, shown from a 35 film projector that has had it's insides put on show, and the mechanisms moved around to create an amazing roller coaster tangle of film. You also get a ticket to one of three short films shown in their cinema, again, projected in a traditional fashion. If anyone reading this ever goes to Tokyo, I INSIST that you go to this museum.
Seeing that I mentioned the evolution of man in my last paragraph, and therefore, by proxy, monkeys, here are a few monkeys from the monkey mountain in Oita, the second stop of my trip.
Staring into your soul
This monkey did not appreciate me getting this close
I have never seen so many monkeys in one place. So. Many. Monkeys.
These are a few images taken from different areas around Oita, where my sister lives. The top image was taken at the Usuki Stone Buddhas. We went quite late in the day before going for a delicious meal. It was raining, we were surrounded by bamboo forests and huge statues. It was very quiet, apart from the occasional bird call and the snapping of sticks as animals moved around in the foliage.
The second two images were taken atop a mountain near Beppu, which you get to by going up a cable car type thing. There was a lot of snow up there.
So there we have a small collection of photos from that time I went to Japan. Here is a video I made from some of the footage I also shot while over there (got a bit over excited that I had my new Canon which could shoot video also.) S'also got some stuff from our hop over to South Korea also.
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