All posts filed under: Okinawa

Radiation on Okinawa

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I’ve had a few emails and comments asking whether Okinawa is affected by the radiation leaks from the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. Short Answer: NUCLEAR RADIATION LEAKS DO NOT AFFECT THOSE LIVING IN OKINAWA. PLEASE DO NOT WORRY. Longer Answer: The “Fukushima Fifty”, Japanese engineers who are at the plant trying to control the nuclear reactors, are I imagine in very real danger. People within 13 miles of the plant have been told to leave the area. People between 13 and 19 miles have been told to stay indoors. People in cities not far from the plant may receive higher than background amounts of radiation, but nothing that is considered dangerous. Okinawa is over 1000 miles from the radiation leak and well out of harms way even in a worse case scenario.

Progress

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Things seem to be back to normal in Okinawa. Yesterday I went for a drive to the north of the island, and noticed this parking space at one of the convenience stores. These E.V. (electric vehicle) charging stations are starting to appear across Okinawa. There are some at the expressway service areas , and I even spotted one all the way up in Higashi Village. This is a quite uplifting, a really positive sign for the future, especially following days of seeing catastrophic images on the news. I also saw my first Nissan Leaf electric car. Okinawa is pretty much perfect for electric vehicles. The islands compact size means that all journeys should be less than the official 100 mile range of the Leaf (and also less than the EPA’s  estimated range  for the Leaf of 73 miles). My hope is that the Leaf, and similar vehicles, will become the standard rental cars on the island. Great for the environment, great for the lungs of pedestrians and cyclists, great for the car companies to showcase …

Operation Tomodachi

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Operation Tomodachi is the relief effort of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. Over the last couple of days planes and helicopters have been leaving bases in Okinawa and heading north. Some will be flying to Naval Base Atsugi, near Tokyo while others will probably head to Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture . (Tomodachi is the Japanese word for friend) I will continue to post updates on my blog and the Chris Willson Photography Facebook page, but if you have family members in the US armed forces you can also get the latest information about the Marines in Japan at the III Marine Expeditionary Force Facebook page. Some have asked if I intend to head up to the disaster area to photograph the events taking place. Logistically it would be almost impossible to get there from Okinawa by myself. It would be different if I could be embedded with part of the military or civilian humanitarian effort, but these are contacts that are difficult to make if you’re a lone photographer unaffiliated to a major news …

The Day After

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It’s been an strange day. Spent a lot of time switching between BBC World and CNN on the TV and various news sites on the web.  I saw the images coming in from photographers and journalist friends based in Tokyo, many of whom are now heading north to Sendai. I wish all the best to those who are going out to cover the disaster. Stay safe. The above photograph by my friend Damon Coulter shows a scene from Tokyo just after the quake. It is not an image of chaos or carnage, but a man putting his training into action. Japan is well aware it lies in an earthquake zone, and the precautions taken with regards to building design, planning and training mean things are much better than they could have been. I put up yesterday’s post with images of the tsunami’s effect on Okinawa hoping that it would be of interest to a few of my blog readers. The tsunami clearly didn’t have a large impact on Okinawa. The ocean appeared to go from …

Shuri Castle at Night

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Shuri Castle in Naha is still undergoing renovation. It looks like they are in the second of three stages, concentrating on the roof line and the golden dragons that sit at either end of the apex. You can just spot the scaffolding in the above photo. Here’s a crop from the  image at 100%. It’s nice to see they paint the scaffolding red, quite thoughtful really as the castle still gets many visitors while the reconstruction is going on.

Kiku-san and the carrot

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Kiku-san is 92 years old. She has a small garden next to her house where she tends her vegetables. She grows lettuces, radishes, garlic and carrots. There are a few important things to note from this simple series of images with regards to longevity. The first is that Kiku-san grows and eats a large range of vegetables. The second is that she is gardening and exercising even though it’s mid February. Third, she is smiling. So there you are, three keys to a long life. Eat your veggies, exercise, smile. Enjoy the rest of your lives 🙂

Cherry Blossom in Okinawa

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Spring is officially here in Okinawa. Cherry blossom is in full bloom, and it’s starting to warm up. The cherry trees in Okinawa produce dense pink blossoms, quite unlike the pale blooms up on mainland Japan. The most popular viewing spot in Okinawa is not a large public park, but on the twisty road up Yae mountain near Nago City. It’s a pretty drive, but get there very early, or you’ll get stuck in a long line of cars. Equipment: Pentax 645D, Pentax 67 to 645 adapter, Pentax 67 Macro 100mm  

Visions of Japan at Global Gallery – A few thoughts

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It’s been a couple of months since I held my Visions of Japan exhibition at Global Gallery. I’d promised I’d write a  post about the experience of putting on this exhibition, sorry it took so long. (If you haven’t read it all ready, take a look at my previous post Zen and the Art of Photography Exhibitions in which I talk about what I learned from my first few shows) 1) Space I had more space for this exhibition. It was great to be able to show a large range of images. I did however only hire half the gallery to save on rental costs. I was able to display around 20 framed A2 landscapes and 24  matted A3 portraits.  The larger area also gave me the space for several tables from where I could display and sell prints. 2) Costs The basic costs for gallery rental, postcards and posters came to a little over 100,000 yen or $1000. In addition to this were the costs of producing the pieces for display. 3) Sales This …

Up in the air

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Last Friday I arrived at sunny Naha airport with a ticket to Niigata. Unfortunately, the flight was cancelled due to heavy snow up on the mainland. They told me the next flight to Niigata was the following day, when things would probably be back to normal. The problem was I needed to be in Niigata that night, so that I could get to Nagano the following day. ANA allowed me to change my ticket and get on a flight to Haneda. I then got the monorail and local train to Tokyo Station, and finally jumped on the bullet train to Niigata. I arrived in Niigata 4 hours later and 11,000 yen poorer than I’d expected, but at least I’d made it. Let the adventures begin.