I read somewhere that Tokyo’s Ginza district  has the highest land prices in Japan. This shot was from my latest trip. And here’s one I took a few years ago.

This is the final series of images I shot on my latest trip to mainland Japan. August 15th is the anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of WWII. On this day, several thousand Japanese come to Yasukuni Shrine to pray for those Japanese soldiers who died in battle. At 10AM doves are released and there are prayers for peace. There are one or two WWII veterans in uniform, and surprisingly some younger men dressed in military uniforms / costumes. But things are a little more complex. The shrine is believed to hold the spirits of dead soldiers, and that with enshrinement comes absolution of all sins. The problem is that Japanese war criminals were also enshrined at Yasakuni. The presence of these spirits has led to  international controversy over whether Japanese politicians should pray at the shrine. 2010 was the first time in 25 years that no members of the Japanese cabinet attended. This controversy has made Yasukuni Shrine, and in particular the August 15th anniversary, a place for protest by the more extreme …

So here’s the plan… I enjoy shooting models in the studio against a plain background. I enjoy photographing iconic locations in Japan. Now if you combined the two, and perhaps added a little off-camera flash, then hopefully you can create some interesting imagery. The set up… Model: Charissa Littlejohn     Makeup: Jaylene Wu     Camera: 645D with 55mm lens Strobe: Pentax AF400T triggered by PocketWizard Location: East Shinjuku, Tokyo The images… I’ve put slightly larger versions of the four images on Flickr. I’d be interested to hear which you prefer of the four images. Charissa loves number 4, but I think shot number 2 is my favorite.

Pop quiz, hotshot… It’s late in the evening and you’re in Hirosaki, northern Japan. You need to be in Shinjuku, Tokyo the following afternoon. You could A) Check into the Hirosaki Toyoko Inn (¥4,700), then the following morning  catch the 9.09 train to Aomori, the shinkansen bullet train to Omiya and the local to Shinjuku (¥17,500). You would arrive in Shinjuku at 2.25PM at a total cost of  ¥22,200. or B) Catch the 10.30 overnight bus from Hirosaki Station to Shinjuku Station. Arrive 7.30AM for a total cost of ¥8,000 And the answer is… Unfortunately an overnight bus trip does mean you look (and feel) something like this But, no rest for the wicked. I needed to head over to Yodobashi Camera to buy a small camera case. I couldn’t take my big Lowepro rucksack and a tripod where I was heading later that night. I found that the 645D and lens just fit into  a Lowepro Toploader Zoom 55 AW, so with a slimmed down set of gear I set off to rock.

Hirosaki City’s Neputa Matsuri is similar to Nebuta Matsuri, but with smaller floats. Some of these floats use dolls to recreate scenes from Noh plays, others are more similar to those of Nebuta Matsuri. I checked out Hirosaki’s five-storied pagoda, the castle, and Choshoji Temple. The temple was having some reconstruction done but you could still wander around. These wooden statues were a little disturbing. They certainly gave the impression that you were being watched.