Your Japan, My Japan by Chris Willson
From 2002 to 2004 I had a monthly column in the Asahi Weekly newspaper. In 2006, Nan’un-do published わかる日本と不思議な日本―Your Japan,My Japan:An Englishman’s Perspective
I just saw this Dove commercial for the first time. I think it aired in 2006, so this is old news, but the ideas behind it are just as relevant, if not more so, today.
Morito Toyonaga Paper Toy
The Toy Maker
Morito Toyonaga creates toys that are miniature works of art. His designs have been exhibited in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Sendai and Okinawa. He has a love of traditional techniques that would otherwise disappear.
Morito Toyonaga studied sculpture at Okinawa Prefectural Art University and the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts. His interest in sculpture blossomed into a passion for preserving the skills once used to create Okinawan children’s toys. In 2002, he set up his own toy store called Road Works beside Shuri Castle.
What materials do you use to create the toys?
“Some of the figurines are sculpted from wood, while the stuffed toys are fabric filled with cotton balls. The majority of my toys, however, are made from papier-mâché. To create these paper toys, I start by carving a wooden mold. I then layer a mixture of newspaper, brown paper and glue onto the outside of the mold. The wooden core can then be removed, leaving a thin paper skin. To strengthen the toy, I mix powdered sea shells with strong glue and paint this onto the brittle structure. After several layers of the mixture, the paper has a tough outer coating. I then use traditional Japanese powder paint mixed with more glue for a final colored layer. The last things to be done are the intricate details like the manes of horses or hats for people.”
Your elephants are bright blue and your horses are scarlet. What influences your choice of colors?
“For the more traditional designs, I look at paintings and photographs of original toys stored in Okinawan museums. Unfortunately, because the toys are made of paper, not many of them have survived. The photos did show that certain animals were always painted with the same colors – such as bright red horses. With modern designs I can be more flexible, but I still tend to stick with bright primary colors.”
Morito Toyonaga Paper Toy
Do you get inspiration from other forms of art?
“I have an interest in African tribal art, but my designs are very much based around Okinawa. My modern toys include miniature versions of Japanese police boxes, shîsâ, and Naha City’s monorail. I have even created a small paper toy based on my dog.”
Who usually buys your creations?
“Although these are toys, most of them are not given to children. The traditional designs are very popular with collectors of Okinawan crafts. The more modern pieces are often bought by young women they like the cute designs, and they’re a great souvenir to remember a visit to Okinawa.”
Morito Toyonaga Paper Toy
(Interview first published Okinawa Living Magazine May 2006)
Fujichrome Films
95 % of the time I shoot with 220 rolls of Fujifilm’s Fujichrome Provia 100F. The Pentax 67II gives you 10 images on a 120 roll, and 21 images on a 220 roll. Using 220 means I get one extra shot compared to shooting two rolls of 120, processing is a little cheaper and I spend less time changing film. 220 rolls of Provia aren’t available on Amazon but you can get them from B&H Photo.
I use Provia 100F for it’s ultra-fine grain, and great color reproduction. However, I sometimes use Provia 400X if I have to shoot on an overcast day or for fire festivals. (Provia 400x is not available in 220 so I use 120 rolls)
On my next trip as I’m going to be shooting some landscapes (hopefully with blue skies and cherry blossom) so I have also got a couple of boxes of Velvia 100F for higher color saturation. I wouldn’t use Velvia for portraits, for this Astia 100F would be a better option.
I have only used Kodak products a few times when film was specified by the client. I am sure they’re great, but I’ve just got used to using Fujichrome. Kodak shouldn’t feel too left out however as it’s a Kodak sensor in the Pentax 645D so I will be shooting with both Fuji and Kodak in the future.
Guidebooks on Japan
I have a stack of Japan guidebooks that I have bought or aquired over the last decade. I’ve spent most of the last week preparing for my next trip up to the mainland so I felt I could give a few brief pointers about the differences in books available and which I would recommend. I’m only going to discuss the guidebooks I’ve actually used, but if you’ve read another I’d love to hear your comments. In a later blog I’ll give a list of useful Japan travel websites.
As a quick means of comparison I will mention the amount of information each book has on Matsuyama (one of the places I will be going).
Let’s start with the heavyweights.
Lonely Planet Japan 
The problem I have with the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide is their places to eat, and places to stay sections seem to be almost arbitrary. It is quite easy to waste a lot of time looking for the recommended option while wandering past numerous equally good restaurants / hostels / hotels. (Also with the rapid turnover of bars and restaurants in Japan, there is a good chance the place you are looking for is closed.) The best thing about the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide is that you are far more likely to get an honest opinion about certain attractions e.g. Don’t visit …. because ……they have zoo animals in tiny concrete pens / overpriced rubbish / tourist trap. The photos in both books tend to be small and limited, and grouped together on separate pages. This lack of integration between text and images makes browsing less interesting but if you’re a Joe Friday and all you want is the facts (ma’am) then the books have a huge amount of useful information. Of the two I prefer The Rough Guide.
On the other end of the spectrum is the National Geographic Traveler: Japan (3rd Edition) (Pages on Matsuyama 4 including 4 color photographs.) As is to be expected this book has great photography, and is very nicely laid out on the page. It would be a great book to buy when first considering where to travel in Japan. The amount of detail on some places (a single page for Kobe City) means that it would be less useful when traveling in Japan.
Japan Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs) is a compact pocket sized book I was given. It fits easily in your bag, but the information is limited and now out of date so give this one a miss. (1 page on Matsuyama)
Michelin Travel Guide Japan (Michelin Travel Guides) This was my most recent purchase, having been recommended it by Amazon based on my purchase history (Matsuyama 4 pages inc 2 small photos). The first thing I checked when it arrived was the section on Okinawa where I read “The booming capital city of Naha is well on its way to becoming a modern metropolis, with its towering skyscrapers and state-of-the-art monorail.” If I was browsing in a bookshop I would have immediately put the book down and moved on.
The final two guidebooks, Japan (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Matsuyama 1 page) and Insight Guides Japan
I get asked this question quite a lot, and in all honesty, I am not really the right person to answer. The only digital camera I currently use is my little point & shoot W60, while for work I still use my Pentax 67II medium format film camera.
Getting balanced opinions isn’t made easier by the fact that many photographers are extremely proud (or defensive) of the brand they use. The situation is akin to sports teams. Asking a Nikon user about the quality of Canon’s gear, is similar to asking a Liverpool fan about Manchester United. You may get an honest answer, but you are more likely to be told the other brand is trash or that Rooney looks like Shrek.
Photography magazines are usually better, but you have to raise an eyebrow when the glowing review for a particular camera is followed by a two page paid advertisement for the exact same camera.
I would first take a look at the digital SLR buyers guide at Digital Photography Review. Another good introduction to the variety of digital cameras available is B&H Photo’s buyers guide. As a camera store they are of course hoping you will buy things from them, but they seem more balanced than other sites when comparing the pros and cons of different brands or sensor sizes.
The B&H buyers guides are divided into three sections based on price.
These introductions were released just before Christmas but I don’t think too many new models arrived in the last couple of months. Also they don’t include every brand, the Sigma DSLRs for example are not discussed.
Hopefully these sites will be able to answer some of your questions without turning everyone into hooligans.
Within the Frame by David duChemin
Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
“Vision is the beginning and end of photography. It’s the thing that moves you to pick up the camera, and it determines what you look at and what you see and what you do. It determines how you shoot and why. Without vision the photographer perishes.” David duChemin
There are chapters on the basics such as the rule of thirds, exposure, depth of field and varying angles. The book also delves into issues that are more specific to travel photographers such as whether to give money to beggars, or issues to consider when photographing poverty, children or the elderly. Overall, however, the book is about how to improve your craft, and expand your view of the world.
On duChemin’s blog it states “Gear is Good. Vision is Better.” Above all, what you get from his book is a sense of passion. His love of photography, of travel, and for the people he encounters, is clear on every page.
My 36 "most interesting" images on Flickr
One clever feature on Flickr is the ability to track the popularity of your images. There is a program that will determine your most interesting images based on comments and views. It then creates a special set for your Photostream. My top 36 “most interesting” images as of March 15th are those above. It appears that women in bikinis and men’s bottoms are popular favorites. Nice to see that my labrador Bear sneaked in there at number 36.
A final three photos of the snow monkeys.
Snow Monkey Paparazzi
Snow Monkey Bathing
Snow Monkey Group Hug
PocketWizards also allow you to easily use off-camera flash when shooting in the field. Connect one PocketWizard to your camera and then the second Pocket Wizard to the flash. I use a transceiver caddy to mount the PocketWizard to the handle of an old hammerhead flash. Press the shutter and, wirelessly, the flash will trigger. You could add a second off-camera flash by setting the second flash to slave mode.
PocketWizard attached to a Pentax AF400T flash
Another useful thing to consider if you are taking PocketWizards into the field is a hard case which will protect the antenna while it is bouncing around your bag. Some are designed to fit with the transceiver caddy making things even easier. This one is by Hildozine.
PocketWizard Hard Case by Hildozine
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 