photography

SFJ: Brazilian Day in Yoyogi Park, Harajuku

Brazilian Day Japan (September 3rd, 4th 2011) has both a main stage with capoeira and samba dancers, while food stalls feature a mix of Brazilian-style barbecue, pastels and cocktails. There are also a few non-food stalls advertising Brazilian-run businesses and those with a more tenuous connection.

I sampled food from a variety of different vendors, although it was mostly too bland and greasy for my taste. It’s unfair to judge the cuisine of an entire nation based on a few fast food stands on the other side of the world in Japan, but I will say I preferred the food at the Thai and Indian festivals held in the same location.

Of all the food I tried, kibbeh was the best and reminded me of koftas, with its spicy, nutty texture. On the other end of the scale, a delicious-looking sausage had big chunks of juicy fat hidden inside. It was vile.

My friend who’d invited us in the first place is actually Brazilian, and told us the food was pretty authentic. As a vegetarian though, he dodged the worst of it.

The capoeira display on the main stage was impressive, but a little difficult to see as this martial art often uses the ground as a base to make attacks. There are also the famous handsprings and acrobatics, but the photos don’t turn out so well when half the performer’s body is hidden behind someone’s head. Luckily, the group later formed a capoeira circle (or Roda) just outside of the festival grounds, which was much easier to watch.

Soon after, a samba school called Gres Alegria performed in feathers, sequins and costume jewellery against a backdrop of bubbles. There are plenty of photos of their colourful costumes below… but only one of the food!

Click on any of the photographs below to see them at a larger size. The majority of them are available at 1024×768 size, perfect for desktop wallpaper.

All photos below are 1024×768 size.

Spam From Japan: Dancing Through Typhoon Talas

The notice on the website said the festival was on, but Typhoon Talas was passing over Shikoku and leaving even Tokyo drenched. The question was whether heavy rain would stop the last chance to see Awa Odori this summer at a festival known as “Odore, NishiHachi Natsu Matsuri” (Summer Festival in Nishi-Hachiouji).

Awa Odori is a Japanese dance originally from Tokushima in, yes, Shikoku. Its most distinctive feature, aside from the movements and the way the female dancers stand on the ‘tips’ of their wooden sandals, is the straw hats. Shaped like a half-moon and covering half the face, they are called amigasa.

As you can see by the photos, the matsuri took place more-or-less as planned. If you look closer (click on the landscape-oriented photos to view at 1024×768 resolution), you can see the dancers’ hair is slick and some of the yukata is becoming see-through around the sleeves. Yes, they really did dance through a typhoon! The only concessions to the weather was wrapping fans and paper lanterns in clear plastic and a shortening of the performance time.

It’s worth mentioning that there were about four or five children performing, some of whom hadn’t even reached elementary school age. Due to their age, I won’t upload them to the wilds of the internet, but the crowd adored them.

Click to see the photographs at a larger size. Landscape-oriented photographs are at the correct proportions for desktop wallpaper.

SpamFromJapan: Lanterns For Bon Odori

Summer is almost over, or so we hope, which means that so are events connected to Obon, the Japanese festival of the dead. The term ‘Obon’ covers private ceremonies in the home and community activities such as Lantern Boats and Bon Odori.

Bon Odori (or its English translation, Bon Dance) was held recently in my area. This year, the event was so crowded that I didn’t get a chance to dance. Nevertheless, the feeling of being surrounded by so many beautiful lanterns at night (and having shaved ice or a beer from one of the stalls!) is an amazing feeling.

Please click on any of the photographs to see them at 1024×768 resolution.

Spam From Japan: Photo-Walking Around Odaiba

I was in Odaiba recently for the International Tokyo Toy Show. The sky was overcast and grey, making it the perfect weather for photographing the brightly-coloured boats. The light reflects oddly at this time, enhancing greens and, at twilight, naturally bringing out the now-ubiquitous teal and orange. Since it was June, you also get the iconic ‘raindrops dripping off hydrangeas’ photo.

All photographs are available at a larger size if you click on them. All landscape-oriented photographs are wallpaper-sized for your PC.

Spam From Japan: International Tokyo Toy Show 2011 Report

The International Tokyo Toy Show (Also known as “Tokyo Omocha Show”) is the one of the first major ‘fun’ event to be held in Big Sight since the earthquake. Okay, there were trade fairs devoted to sales incentives and a few doujinshi markets, but nothing with sponsors. They weren’t even sure if it would go ahead considering both the Tokyo International Anime Fair and its new rival, Anime Contents Expo, were cancelled. Although numbers for both attendees and booths owners seemed like it was down, I’m glad they went through with it.

I must admit, fewer things caught my eye this year. However, the people behind Doubutsu Shougi (“Animal Shogi” or “Catch The Lion!”) were there again to give demonstrations. If you like board games or puzzles, I totally recommend this one. It has a few basic shougi pieces, represented by simple illustrations of animals and a reduced playing area. The pieces have the potential moves (mimicking actual shogi moves, obviously) included in the illustrations too.

This year they had a treat for us — a full shogi set with the same basic concept! That is, the legal moves for each piece are clearly marked and all pieces are adorable animals. These are a perfect gift for anyone, even adults (especially adults!).

Amongst other toys that caught my eye was Yummy Dough. According to the flyer, they started making it when a little German girl asked “Why can’t you eat clay?” Instead of replying “Because we said so,” they made edible play dough and set up children for a lifetime of bad decision-making. It looked like a pretty good idea, but I didn’t try any of their many samples, simply for all the children already pawing through them. There’s a photo of the booth below though.

Amongst other things I photographed was 4D Cityscape Time Puzzle from Yanoman. The concept isn’t new, but now Tokyo has been added to the list of 3D cities you can make. There were also plenty of sentai and tokusatsu rangers on display at the Bandai booth. Like Takara Tomy, their booth took up about a quarter of an entire hall. This time they were promoting Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (AKA Pirate Squadron Gokaiger), which is a mash-up of a Super Sentai show and pirates. Probably my favourite photographs were of Lego’s new magic-ninja-and-dragons model line, called Ninjago.

I was very pleased by what I found in the Takara Tomy booth. I’m a big fan of ‘we made it so-so-so cute that it stopped being cute and became creepy’ — I love soulless eyes, kigurumi cosplayers and life-sized dolls with visible balljoints that they didn’t have to include but did anyway. Good work guys, and I won’t be able to sleep for some time.

Here’s a list of Japanese Toy Awards 2011 grand prize winners. There are a few changes from the previous year (See a list in English here), although Bandai are still making sentai transformation belts and Anpanman keeps educating kids. This year, Takara Tomy took more wins all round and their winning entry for the Innovation Award, Ningen Gakki, looks particularly intriguing.

List of award winners 2011. Scroll on for the photos!

Category	Name	Company	Sale Date	Price in Yen
Access For All Children “Kyouyuu” Award	Tomica Yubi-Con Series	Takara Tomy	June 2011	5,229
Educational Award	Anpanman Touch de “AIUEO” o-kyoushitsu Kids Tablet [Link to .PDF]	Agatsuma	August 2011	7,329
Boys’ Toy Award	Henshin Belt (Kamen Rider) DX OOO Driver O Medal Series	Bandai	September 2010	6,825
Girls’ Toy Award	Licca-chan 31 Icecream Shop	Takara Tomy in association with Baskin Robbins	April 2011	4,725
Character Toy Award	ONE PIECE LOGBOX	Megahouse	September 2010	630
Innovative Toy Award	Ningen Gakki	Takara Tomy	June 2011	3,360
High Target Award	nanoblock Tokyo Skytree and LED Plate	Kawada in association with Tokyo Skytree	September 2011	2625 (+1050)

I hope you enjoyed my report and photographs from the International Tokyo Toy Show 2011. If you like anime, you might enjoy my cosplay photographs from Winter Comiket 2010. If you want more photographs from other big events like this toy fair, maybe you’ll prefer my report from last year’s Tokyo Game Show. Alternatively, click on the banner to your left to see photographs from other bloggers in Japan. You can also share this on Facebook or Twitter (amongst many other sites!) if you click the button to your left below.

Spam From Japan: Water Lily Wallpapers and Cosmos Hill at Sunset

Dragonflies hover over water lilies and irises by a lake at Showa Kinen Park in Tokyo. As the day progresses, the shadows get longer and the light more golden, allowing for some great photographs of flowers just before sundown.

The flowers were photographed at Cosmos Hill, when the sun was low in the sky, but not setting just yet. Depending on the angle of the camera and where I positioned the sun within the frame, I could make it look like normal daylight or eerie – as in the photographs.

The flowers in question are Nymphaea water lilies, bletilla (shiran) and foxgloves. You can also read my post featuring wallpaper-sized photographs of dragonflies and other insects.

First, the wallpapers. Hover your mouse over any photograph to find out further details. To see the photograph more clearly or to take it for your desktop, please click on it.

Here are some more photos of Cosmos Hill and the park lake.

I hope you enjoyed my photos of flowers. If you want to see more nature photography from the same area, you might also like my macro photography of dragonflies and other insects. If you want more traditional buildings with your nature photography though, maybe you’ll prefer my photographs from Kita-Kamakura. Alternatively, click on the banner to your left to see photographs from other bloggers in Japan. You can also share this on Facebook or Twitter (amongst many other sites!) if you click the button to your left below.

Spam From Japan: Macro Flower and Insect Photographs (1024×768, Wallpaper Size)

Summer is just about here, and that means watching dragonflies bob along in the tall grass while children run around with nets trying to catch them and other insects. Okay, some people run screaming and if that describes you, you should probably skip this post.

I love photographing insects at the macro level. A dragonfly’s wings are a beautiful, seemingly-random criss-cross design and — if you look closely — almost seem to be mechanical.

These macro photographs were all taken in Tachikawa, west Tokyo at Showa Kinen Park. You can also read about my first trip in summer and another trip in late winter, early spring. I intended these photos to be used as desktop wallpaper, hence the off-centred cropping (which I prefer anyway). Even if you never use them, I hope you will click on them to have a better look at the details.

Showa Kinen Park, Japan: Insect and Flower Macro Photography

I hope you enjoyed my photos of insects on flowers. If you want to see more nature photography, you might also like my photos of cherry blossom. If you want a more modern take though, maybe you’ll prefer my photographs from Kabukicho. Alternatively, click on the banner to your left to see photographs from other bloggers in Japan.

Were There Hanami Parties in Tokyo After The Earthquake?

It’s late April and bloggers showing off their photographs of cherry blossom are as inevitable as the blossoms themselves. For my part, I tried to do something a little bit different this year, by including interesting foregrounds and backgrounds, or just by adding people.

Up until recently, I would wait until just the right moment for the foot traffic to stop before I took a picture. I even have a full length picture somewhere of the Kamakura Daibutsu with no people in view. Have a look at my sakura photographs from last year where I specifically talk about waiting for that special (and rare) moment when no one is there.

This year, it was suggested (by Ishihara Shintarou) that we shouldn’t take part in hanami parties out of respect for the victims of the tsunami, even when said victims turned up and said, “Hey, we need you to have hanami parties so our area can recover financially!” Thankfully, the people of Tokyo listened to Tohoku rather than the politicians, and I wanted to show that. So, this year, instead of waiting for all the plastic swans to return to the boatyard, I took a picture more representative of what Inokashira Park is like during cherry blossom season.

Click through to see my photographs of sakura in Shibuya, in Inokashira Park and around its lake, near Tokyo Imperial Palace, and from Tama Graveyard. The photographs are fairly large this time, so they may take a while to load.

Click for photographs from parks and graveyards across Tokyo after the jump!

Spam From Japan: Koganei Park In The Snow

In Tokyo, it snowed for the first time on Foundation Day, a national holiday in Japan. We’d only just had Setsubun on February 3rd, which officially marked the start of spring. After holding back on us in Tokyo all winter, leaving the rest of the world and other parts of Japan buried under snow, it finally came through. Exactly the same as last year.

On seeing the snow, I immediately wanted to take my camera out in it, preferably with some traditional buildings. But where?

I chose to run all the way to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum to photograph historical Japanese buildings in the snow. There were also plum trees (梅/ume) in bloom in the surrounding area. Enjoy the photos — there are a lot this time.

Click on the photographs below to see a bigger version. Hover your cursor for a description. Thanks for reading.

Spam From Japan: Temples and Wildlife in Kita-Kamakura

It’s said that one of the best ways to do Kamakura is to start in Kita-Kamakura. I arrived in Kita-Kamakura, took in just three temples, and reached the most famous Kamakura shine — Tsurugaoka Hachimaguu — just before dusk. It should be pointed out that these “temples” are not the small buildings you might find in a Tokyo neighbourhood, but sprawling estates filled with buildings. One even had a two hour hiking course.

My three temples were Engakuji (円覚寺), Meigetsuin (明月院) and Kenchoji (also Kenchouji – 建長寺). All cost 300 yen to enter and all are famous for flowers not completely in bloom right now, hence the low number of people in the photographs. Tourism in Japan is sensitive to seasonal changes, so when visiting you should consider whether you want to see a location at its best or if you’d prefer fewer people around.

The grounds of Engakuji are famous for a large bell, which is also a national treasure. It can be found at the top of a large flight of stone steps. It was here that I saw a wild squirrel. As a Brit, I grew up with squirrels; they’re in your garden, in the parks, everywhere. People have to buy squirrel-resistant bird feeders because — in Britain — it’s fairly probable you’ll see a squirrel.

I hadn’t seen a squirrel in Japan in the five years I’ve lived here. This was very exciting for me.

Meigetsuin was my second temple. It contains one of the Ten Wells of Kamakura and a cloudy white-green stream runs through it. You can walk across it on an amazing-looking bridge which I’m sure will look even more awesome when the trees aren’t bare. It’s famous for hydrangea too, which aren’t due to bloom for a while yet, either. I did see some fantastic wintersweet, which flowers at Chinese New Year.

Finally, the temple seems to have a rabbit motif going, which I initially assumed was because the temple’s name is linked to the moon. However, the brochure I was given upon entering makes no mention of it and instead touts the grave of Hojo Tokiyori as its main point of interest.

My final temple in Kita-Kamakura was Kenchouji, another Zen temple, this one so big that it even has room for a shrine from a different religion. This is the Hansoubou, a Shinto shrine which is surrounded by tengu. I’m a big fan of tengu, ever since I first saw them at Mt. Takao in Tokyo.

Around one of the smaller temples, something strange fluttered in front of me, like a ghost. When I looked closer, it turned out to be a small brown and yellow bird. After a short investigation, I believe it was a Yellow-Breasted Bunting, which is actually listed as a ‘vulnerable’ species. Lucky me.

I arrived in Kamakura just before twilight and headed for Tsurugaoka Hachimangu as I sensed I didn’t have much time before nightfall. The was a wedding going on and I also saw this beautiful grey heron atop a pine tree before heading home.

Click on the photographs below to see a bigger version. Hover your cursor for a description. Thanks for reading.