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Fukagawa Hachiman Festival, Tokyo – Part 3

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After getting a few portraits and some general overview shots, I started looking for other angles. At one junction, where the mikoshi make a 90 degree turn, I noticed there was an elderly man watching the proceedings from the upstairs window of his home. I waved at him, pointed to my camera, and a few minutes later I was also watching the festival from the upstairs window. It turns out Kawauchi-san has lived in the same place since he was a kid. He watches the parade every year, and was quite happy to have some company for a little while. It was great to be able to look down on proceedings. I was able to capture a good selection of images I wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise. I even had enough time to shoot some video. A huge thank you to Kawauchi-san for happily letting a stranger into his home, and even giving the stranger a bottle of cold tea on a hot day in August.

Fukagawa Hachiman Festival, Tokyo – Part 2

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On Sunday 17th, Fukagawa Hachiman Festival reached its peak. Festivities began with blessings from the Shinto priest outside the shrine. Dozens of mikoshi were carried through the streets, the participants getting soaked by far more bystanders with buckets of water. As with yesterday, it was great to know that the Pentax 645Z and lenses are properly weather sealed. The camera was splashed several times, but there were no issues. However, there were some professional water soakers that I needed to stay clear of. Numerous member of the Tokyo fire departments were there to drench the groups with water. There’s weather sealing, and there’s being hit by a firehose sealing. I wasn’t going to test the latter. My goal therefore was to try and get in close to the groups without getting soaked, or crushed underfoot by a team of mikoshi carriers. And a bit of video

Lasik – 6 month check-up

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While in Tokyo, I’d stopped by the Kobe Kanagawa Eye Clinic in Shinjuku for my 6-month eye check after Lasik. First, I did a standard eye test. I could read the bottom line with my right eye, the second to bottom line with my left eye, and the bottom line clearly with both eyes open. My eyes were then checked by the doctor, and I was given the all clear. Awesome. I can go back to the clinic if I ever have any concerns, but that was the final regularly scheduled check-up. To learn more about my experience with Lasik  just click on the Lasik in Japan tab above.

Awa Odori – Time to put on your geta and dance

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Along with portraits I needed to get some images of groups dancing at the festival. There are several areas where they dance, but I based myself at the largest venue where hundreds of spectators watch the event from terraced seating. Organizing a press pass meant I could get much better images than shooting from the terraces, but even press are restricted to where they can go so not to impede the dancers or spoil the view for spectators. I shot hundreds of images between 6pm and 9.30pm, but nearly all the best shots came from a period of about 10 minutes during twilight just after the floodlights came on. Overall a great festival. If you’re ever in Japan between August 12 to 15, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Yoshitaka Taira, 10th dan World Matsubayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu)

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Yoshitaka Taira, 10th dan World Matsubayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu) was the first sensei I photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project. At that time, we only took a simple head shot and a single pose of them in their favorite stance. More recently we try to get a much wider variety of images, so when I saw Taira sensei at the seminar last week, I asked if could get a few additional shots of the project.

Awa Odori – Tokushima City

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Awa Odori, one of the great Japanese dance festivals. It takes place every August in Tokushima City on Shikoku Island. I photographed the festival about 5 years ago, before I started shooting digital. In many way things have changed a great deal. I’m shooting far more frames and I’m using higher ISOs when needed. However, the job of getting the images is just the same. Before the event it’s logistics and paperwork, then travel, and on the day of the festival it’s all about interaction and hopefully artistic vision. The change to digital did mean I could sit on the train back to Okayama and review the day’s images. Otherwise, I’d have had to dump a bag of 220 rolls off at Yodobashi Camera and then patiently wait to see what develops… A few of the elegant girls and ladies taking part.

The Tobacconist

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Met up with photographer Trevor Williams in Okayama and spent the day checking out Naoshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Driving around the island we spotted an old store squeezed between more modern buildings. Murao is an 83-year-old tobacconist who defiantly sells his cigarettes and non-safety matches just has he has done for more than half a century. The sign next to his window says, Kyo mo genki da! Tobako ga umai, which roughly translates as, Today I’m also healthy. Tobacco is delicious. The future of tobacconists is literally on Murao’s doorstep. A cigarette vending machine with taspo age identification sits beside his store. Murao however doesn’t seem worried. Against all the odds, he’s happy and healthy, still puffing away.