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.

From Aomori I took the train north to Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The train goes through the Seikan Tunnel, the longest (and deepest) undersea tunnel in the world. Hakodate is famous as one of the first international trading ports in Japan. Like Nagasaki and Kobe it is home to a wide range of religious buildings. Perhaps the most famous attraction in Hakodate is the “million dollar” night view from the summit of Mt Hakodate. On my first day it was a little cloudy so I didn’t attempt the standard night shot and got some shots of others admiring the view. It was crowded from the traditional viewpoint looking over the city, but if you just went around the corner you could get some nice shots looking west over the ocean. And for those interested in the 645D. Here’s a crop from the above image of the bottom right ship.

The giants floats of Nebuta Matsuri are pulled through the city by teams of exhausted looking men. On the final day of the festival the parade took place in the middle of the day, and as you might expect at 1pm on a sunny August afternoon it was blisteringly hot. Musicians accompanied the floats and were likewise melting in the sun. I got a few shots and then retreated to the shade, and air conditioning,  of a museum.

When I looked at the full res file of the lotus image I was impressed by the amount of detail. I thought others might like to check it out so I uploaded a full sized JPEG to Flickr which you can check out here. Another place of note in Akita was the Masakichi Hirano Museum of Fine Art. It is worth checking out just to see the huge “Annual Events in Akita” wall painting which at just over 20 meters in width is one of the largest canvas paintings of the 20th Century.