Sushicam

OK, I  must admit it.  This is more than a little bit strange.  I am in a place where everyone looks like me, yet I can hardly understand a word they are saying.  At first anyway, everyone I have met here so far has been able to speak excellent English, so true communication has not been a problem.

Now I know what it feels like to be an American of Japanese descent who goes to Japan for the first time.  Everyone speaks to you in the local tongue, and you have to sheepishly explain that you do not understand.  It’s only natural that people assume you are a local from the way that you look.   I think what helped to perfect my disguise for Helsinki was deciding not carrying around a backpack full of 15-20kg worth of photo equipment.

And i think I have been able to fake my way through a few brief encounters with shopkeepers.  I grunt and nod, and end the exchange with another curt nod and a quick “Kiitos”.  I think I’ve got the accent and mannerisms right too, the benefit of having grown up around a lot of Finnish speakers in Upper Michigan.

And I really have been enjoying the feeling of travelling light.  It has allowed e to focus more on where I am at, instead of juggling ideas of what lens i should be using for a particular situation.

I’ve never been much of a wide angle type shooter, but the Sony NEX-5 with its 24mm pancake prime has started to change the way I shoot.  I know it’s not ideal for all situations, but for this trip it has been just what was needed.

I’ve heard a lot of people say it before, but now I really understand it.  Europe really needs to be shot with  a wide angle lens.

Saori decided that she wasnot interested in visiting the UESCO World Heritage site on Suomenlinna, so I went there by myself in the morning, only meeting back up with her later on in the afternoon back in the room.

The island museum of Suomenlinna was a very nice break from the semi crowded streets of Helsinki proper.  Compared to Tokyo Helsinki feels almost like a ghost town, but still, Suomenlinna was like taking a walk through the countryside in comparison.

After taking the ferry boat back to Market Square I grabbed a late lunch from one of the food vendors.  Grilled salmon, small potatoes in butter, vegetables, and a beer. With my fuel tank once again topped off I went wandering through Helsinki.

In front of a large shopping complex I met a young Japanese couple who were on a year-long world tour.  They were hippies through and through and were  funding their trip by selling hand-made jewelry along the way.  They had already sent 8 months in Asia, bouncing from country to country, and now were just beginning a three month tour through Finland, Sweden, and Norway.  They said that India was so affordable that they did not have to sell any jewelry, but Finland is entirely different.  But looking on the bright side, they did say that rice was cheap in Finland.  I chatted with them for a few minutes, enjoying the fact that I could communicate again with someone in a language other than English.  After that I dropped all the Euro coins I had in my pocket into their hat, wishing them luck on their continued adventure around the world.  It was only later that I remembered that with the coins being in denominations of 2 Euro and down, I likely passed on the them a not so insignificant amount since most of the coins were of the 2 and 1 Euro type.  No worries though, it’s always good to feed your Karma.

From there I found myself an outdoor bar and enjoyed a cold hard cider as I watched the world go by for a little while.

Observation: What’s up with all the Mowhawks I have seen here in Europe?  Between Estoni and Finland, over he course of 3 days I have noticed no less than 10 or 12 Mowhawks, and not all of them have been on men!  But, I guess it could be worse, instead of a Mowhawk, they could be sporting Mullets.

For dinner Saori and I went to a restaurant that specializes in food from Lapland.  We had Elk steaks, roast Reindeer,  Reindeer sausage, and winter vegetables (Potato, carrot, and turnip).  A real meat and potatoes type of meal, all washed down by some rather sweet Finnish fruit wine.

I’ve enjoyed the food so far, but I do have to say, a little bit of rice and miso soup now and then would not be a bad thing.  There have been quite a few Japanese restaurants I Helsinki, but I would no doubt be disappointed with them so I have stuck to the local food.

Woke up at 05:00 this morning to the sound of Saori trying to be quiet as she made herself a cup of coffee.  In truth I was not really woken up by her, I was fully rested and kind of half awake at the time anyway.

Having seven hours before checkout time I decided to take another walk through Old Town to take advantage of the early morning light and empty streets.  Upon exiting the hotel I took an immediate right, and about 40 meters from the front door a couple of guys stopped me to ask if I wanted to buy any drugs.  I politely declined and went on my way.

I made a quiet circuit of Old Town in about an hour and a half and went back to the hotel to find Saori fighting with the underpowered hair dryer.  It took her forever to dry her long thick hair.

We went down for breakfast at 8:00, and after that we decided to go for a walk outside of the Old Town area.  We just skirted the edge of Old Town, stopping off at a shopping center with a really large book store.  It was around 11:00 when we went back to the hotel to check out.  Since the Ferry was not to leave until 13:00 we decided to walk to the Terminl D Ferry port instead of taking a taxi.  It was a nice walk, and we arrived at the ferry terminal around 12:00.  The problems started when we went to buy a ticket.  We were told that the ferry was fully booked for the entire day.  There were no available seats on any of the boats leaving for Helsinki that day.

Strike One.

I then asked about other ferry lines and we were told to try Terminal A.  A 20 minute walk later we came upon terminal A and in first seeing it I was not feeling very confident.  It was quite a bit smaller than Terminal D and nearly deserted.  But we went to the ticket window just the same to inquire about a couple of tickets to Helsinki.  No dice.  We were given the same stoy, nothing available until tomorrow mornirng at the earliest.

Strike Two.

Damn, two swings, and two strikes so far.  I was not liking he avegare we were developing.  It was starting to look like we were going to be spending another night in Estonia wether we wanted to or not.

So I asked about any other means of getting to Helsinki that day, and I was directed to the Linda Line terminal, another 25+ minute walk further along the sea side.  So we struck out for thr Lind Line terminsl, and the closer we got the more my hopes sank about getting to Helsinki that day.  We walked through a couple of overgrown long-term parking areas, past a large monolithic building who’s purpose I have yet to ascertain.  It was your classic Soviet era structure, all big blocks of granite and concrete, but definitley showing its age with weeds and small trees sprouting up between the frost-heave cracks.  The closer we got to this last ferry terminal, the larger the weeds became, and the smaller and rougher the sidewalks and roads became.

Upon turning the corner and seeing the ferry port I was not filled with any sort of confidence.  There was only one very small ship, and a long line of people cued up to buy tickets.  People likely in the same situation and Saori and I.  So I found what looked to be the shortest cue at the ticket windows and crossed my fingers that there would be at least two seats available when I got to the head of the line.

As luck would have it, they did have seats avaialable, but only in “Linda Class” (Whatever that meant), I quickly agreed that those would do, and paid the 1,625 Krooni to secure the tickets.  We went traight to boarding from there, and that was when I fould out that “Linda Class” is the top deck where you get a free meal with drinks. (Score!)  So I am typing this directly after having a Salad, Fanta Orange soda, and an ice cold Olvi Beer.

I guess whom ever they were, they were right when they said that “The third time was the charm”.  And as a bonus, the Linda Line express appears to be faster than the ship we had first intended to take, so we will be getting in to Helsinki just about the time when we can check directly into our apartment hotel. Instead of taking three and a half hours, the trip will only take and hour and twenty minutes.

And as an added bonus, the Linda Line docks very close to our next point of lodging.  So even though the days travel ordeal started pretty poorly, but all things considered, I guess things worked out pretty well after all.

Saori is pretending to sleep, but she appears to be pissed at me for some reason.  I think it is because I told her to speak more simply when trying to talk to someone who’s fist language is not English.  This came about when she was trying to order a coffee on the ferry, and in her Japanese accented English said, “Excuse me, could I please have a coffee?”, and the waitress responded with a blank stare.  I told her it would be much better if she just sad “Coffee please”, and skip the formalities.  I’m not relly sure why she is pissed, I was just trying to help.  Women.  Can’t live with them, can’t throw them off the side of the boat either.

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Just checked in to our studio apartment hotel.  It’s reall nice, and loacted in a ncie quiet area a short walk from the center of town. It’s kind of strange since it does not feel at all like a hotel, even the checkin was like going to ana apartment.  There is no front desk, and no on-ste staff that I can see.   To check-in, you proceed to a small locked panel that opens once you input your code and you then help yourself to the keys. Efficient, and easy.

After checking in we made a quick stop at the local market t byu some bread, cheese, snacks, and beer.  After that we took a sauna and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our room.

That’s it for today, more to come tomorrow.

click here for the photos

It is just after midnight.

Saori is sacked out after taking a shower, and I did a little wandering after we checked in to the hotel.  The Old Town area of Tallinn looks to be beautiful.  I took some photos, and now I’ll take a shower and hit the hay myself.  No alarm being set for tomorrow, this is a vacation.  

07:43 – Woke up about an hour ago after a very solid nights sleep.

Spent a glorious hour just lying in bed enjoying the feeling of having no schedules and no deadlnes.  Saori is in the bathroom getting ready to go while I am lying on the bed typing this out.  The weather looks to be really good again, light high clouds with quite a few patches of blue sky poking through even at this early hour.

No real plan for today other than to wander the streets throughout old town and soak up the traditional architecture, local food, and of course local beer.  Saori is just about ready now (07:46) so I will sign off for now.

11:46 pm – What a day!  Had a great breakfast at the hotel at 08:00, from there we started wandering though Old Town Tallinn.  Made a circuit of pretty much the entire place by 2 pm, even with stopping off at a coffee shop for cappuchina, cake, and a beer.  The part I enjoyed the most was being able to get up close and experience the medieval architecture.  There is a certain “authenticity” to some of the structures I saw today that made them feel more directly connected to history that what I saw when I was in London a few years back.

Took a lot of pictures, and generally just enjoyed the perfect weather.  We went back to the hotel at 2 pm, planning to take an hours nap.  That hour turned into six hours, and we then caught a late dinner near the hotel.  I had a Cinnamon beer (sounds bad but was delicious) with salmon, barley, and beans.  Saori had stewed lamb with barley and beans.

We’re thinking abou going to Club Hollywood since it is located right ocross the square from our hotel, but then again we may give it a miss and just get some rest.  It’s supposed to be a very cool place, but I’m not that interested in waking up with a hangov er tomorrow morning.  Instead, I’ll liky go to sleep soon, wake up extra early due to jet-lag and then go take some more early moring photos prior to checking out from the hotel and catching the ferry to Hellsinki to see what Finland has to offer.

Estonia has been great though.  Beautiful weather, more hsitorical buildings that you can shake a stick at, and extremely friendly people.  This is a place I would not mind coming back to in the future.  The guy at the coffee shop said that Old Town Tallinn is like a mini version of Praha.  If that really is the case then I guess I will really love Praha!

OK, off to bed with me so I can get an early start tomorrow and capture more Estonian light befor catching the ferry back to Helsinki.

ps: The Sony NEX-5 has performed brilliantly so far.  As I had guessed, the 16mm prime has been pretty much glued on to date, and when i need a tighter shot I pull out the Sigma DP2 with it;s 41mm perspective.  I am very happy to have chosen to travel light versus going for the absolute maximum in image quality that a more bulky camera would have provided.

Woke up to howling rain this morning after getting only about 3 hours of sleep.  Was up late last night making hotel reservations for Tallinn and Helsinki (The first two destinations on our trip) as well as packing and cleaning up the apartment as much as the limited time would allow.

I decided to leave my usual photo gear at home and instead am taking only my new Sony NEX-5 with 18-55mm zoom, 16mm prime, flash, and three batteries.  I also took the Sigma DP2 for its like-like rendering in good light.  I’m pretty impressed with the NEX-5 so far and I think the 16mm prime will be the lens that gets used the most.  The low light capabilities of the Sony are really impressive, not to mention the sweep panorama feature.  I will be putting both of them to good use on this trip.

Saori is shooting with the Olympus E-P1 and Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens.  I also picked up the new 9-18mm zoom for her yesterday as she really enjoys shooting with a wider perspective.

And I guess I should mention that I am typing this on the Toshiba netbook I picked up for the trip.  With its 250 GB hard drive, and price of only $380 it makes more sense than buying more than the 4 extra 16GB cards I already bought for the trip.  It will also come in handy during the trip with the ubiquitous wifi access in Finland.  I had no time to make hotel reservations n Praha or Vienna, so that will have to be doe from the road.

Breakfast consisted of a peach given to us by Saoris sister.  I also cleaned out from the fridge those items which would have gone bad while we were away.  This being Friday, it was Burnable pickup so that worked out nicely.

Saori called  a taxi to take us to the station since it was pouring buckets, an even with the short sprint between our apartment and the cab I received a minor soaking.  The taxi driver was thoughful enough to drop us off under a roof near Yokosuka chuo station so we could avoid the same soaking.  (Taxi ride was 1,040 yen for what would have been a 15 minute walk)

we caught the YCAT bus in Yokohama, ad arrived at Narita around 8:30 am.  After checking in, we bought a few last minute items (neck pillow, toiletries, and a money belt) and then  exchanged yen fr Euro (170 Euro) so we would have at least a little bit of cash when we arrived.  We then caught a meal at a miso restaurant before boarding the flight.  I ate miso chicken with rice, tofu, miso soup, and pickles, AND a beer.  Saori had a bowl of miso ramen soup.  (2,640 yen)  From there we went to the airplane, making a brief stop to pick up a couple of bottles of water and a some snacks.

It was funny when I walked onto the airplane, the cabin attendant greeted me in Finn.  Can’t blame her though, I am after all Finnish by heritage.  It was just a bit amusing, and one of those cool moments that remind you if entering a new place.  It’s 11:52 now, Saori is already passed out (and using MY neck pillow) so I will  likely down a sleeping pill soon to see if I can manage to stay unconscious for most of this nearly ten hour flight.

ps: The Crying Baby section is not too close to me this time, and has been relatively quiet so far.  Just a couple of little outbursts.  Let’s hope that holds true for the rest of the flight.

Day one continued: 7:20 pm

Well, we are on the Tallink ferry about 45 minutes out of port from Helsinki, on our way to Tallinn.  The rest of the flight was pretty quiet, I think it was anyway.  The sleeping pill I took knocked me out so I was oblivious to the world for a few hours, and that is always a good thing on an international flight.

Getting Euros from an ATM at the airport went very well.  No problems whatsoever.  We also got lucky with the timing to catch a bus to the city center, from where we hopped in a taxi for the ride the rest of the way to the ferry terminal.

My first impressions of Finland from the ride from the airport to the city:  The climate and Geography are very similar to Upper Michigan.  The people look the same as well, and the only off part is that everyone is speaking Finnish.  Were it not for the difference in Language it would be hard to tell the difference between the two places.  Helsinki itself seems like a nice city.  Not crowded or congested like the cities in Japan.  Finnish people like to drink!  As soon as the grocery store on the ferry opened it was mobbed by people buying beer (and vodka!) by the case! I am a bit overwhelmed by all the blond people here.

We exchanged $200 for Estonian Kroon on the ship so we will have money to pay for a bus and/or taxi to take us to our hotel when we arrive in Tallinn at 10 pm.

Caught a a taxi from the ferry port to the hotel  and checked in.  The hotel is right in the  heart of the odl city (score!) and our room is up on the fifth (top) floor.  Great view, and very spacious.

click here for todays photos

Today I woke up a little later than usual for a weekend.  between 4 a.m. conference calls, and splitting my time between two jobs for the months I have begun to feel a bit “stretched”.  Add to that some Cool japan shooting that went a bit later than  I thought I would last night and it all equated to a  later than usual morning for me.

Since the weather was good, I had initially planned to hop a train up to Tokyo and do some shooting, but since I had gotten a later start than I intended, I decided to restrict todays photo shooting to a walking tour of Yokosuka.  I had no real destination in mind.  The only really “plan” was for me to see some places that were new for me.

After living here for so long you would first think that this may be quite a challenge.  But given the fact that this area is so hilly, once you get off the main roads that run through the valleys you find yourself in a veritable maze of foot paths and winding side streets.  Parts of it look to be right out of an Escher illustration.  The tops of the hills are especially nice as the sounds of traffic fade away and you get a bit of a breeze.

It was quite surprising to see just how many of the houses are only accessible by foot via narrow paths and winding stairways.  It’s kind of like a lot of little isolated quiet islands of old houses surrounded by a sea of traffic and newer construction.

I didn’t go too far, just up the hill from Yokosuka-chuo station, then North over a hill or two and then down to Shioiri station with is the next stop up the KQ line.  But what my photowalk lacked in length, it more than made up for it with beauty.  Nothing too earth chattering, but peaceful nonetheless.

I’ll be sire to do a lot more of these local photo-walks.  I think there are still a lot of layers left to the onion that is Yokosuka, and I intend to see more of them.

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Todays gear consisted of a Mamiya ZD SLR with two lenses: 80mm f2.8, and 45mm f2.8.

click here for todays photos

Finally.

Spring has arrived in Japan.

According to the news, this has been the coldest spring in Japan since 1961.  Think about that!  It has not been this cold in the springtime since the date looked the same regardless if it was right side up, or up-side down.    Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again anytime soon.

I took advantage of the perfect weather today and spent a long, leisurely morning in Kamakura.  I did take into account that Saturday was the kick-off to Golden Week here in Japan, so I made a point to visit some of my favorite out-of-the-way spots in Kamakura.  Most notably, Myohonji, Ankokuronji, and Hongakuji.  To find them you basically just head South East from Kamakura station.  And even during crowded times like Golden Week you will usually find these places quite peaceful and relatively empty.

I arrived very early, so my only companions at Myhonji were the (very friendly) resident cats, the wind, and the soft rustle of new spring leaves.

I could blather on about how relaxing and energizing it was, but I think I will let the images speak for themselves.

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Todays set of photo gear consisted of the following:
Mamiya AFD
Kodak DCS Pro Back 645M
45/2.8
80/2.8
200/2.8
No. 3 extension tube

Click here for todays photos

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Rain, it was the season of Wind, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had 42.2 kilometers before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities (Tokyo Governor Ishihara) insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

The Tokyo Marathon, or as I have decided to call it, my “Blind Date”.

I have named it such because it was my first marathon, and I was not quite sure what to expect.  350,000 people had signed up to run the race, but there were only 35,000 available slots, so I was lucky to get in.

And like a lot of first experiences in life, a friend had talked me into doing it.  This friend will remain nameless, so lets just say that his name rhymes with “Peter”.   It was last year, and “Pete” had run the Tokyo Marathon for the first time.  We were talking about it over beers, and I guess he could see the envy in my eyes so he suggested I run it the next year.  Feeling good (ten feet tall and bullet proof, due to the beer) I responded with a hearty “Yes!”   I should have known better though, as it was the very same situation, a few beers and good food, that got me into climbing Mt Fuji for the second time.

But I am not on to back out on a commitment, so I made sure to put in a good amount of training to get ready for the race.

A couple of days before the race I started eating a lot more pasta, and getting plenty of sleep.  I was also keeping my eye on the weather forecast, and I did not like what I was seeing.  As it got closer and closer to race day, the weather outlook got more and more bleak.  And by the time I woke up at 4:30 on Race Day I found that not only was the wind blowing and the rain falling, but it was also getting colder.

There was a second there when I considered just crawling back into bed and ditching the race.  But only for a second.   I had trained for 11 or so weeks, and wanted to put all that training to the test so I ate a light breakfast and headed up to Shinjuku.

Upon arriving in Shinjuku I was happy to see that the wind had died down a bit.  But I was not so happy to see that the rain had not stopped.  I would be even less happy when I found out that I would have to stand in the rain for a bout 45 minutes while waiting for the race to start.  That was a pretty miserable experience.  But I was able to give a spare pair of gloves to an older Japanese woman who was lining up for the race next to me.  She had forgotten hers at home, and I had taken a spare pair just for a case like this so I was happy to be of help.

The only thing that kept me  from turning hypothermic while waiting for the race to start was the clear plastic trash bag that I was wearing as it kept my for the the most part dry.  I had brought a button up raincoat that I bought at a 100 yen store the day before, but the trash bag was a better solution for the race.  ”Pete” had the foresight to bring an extra trash bag for me and right before the race he cut the head and arm holes in it and I slipped it on.   The only break to the monotony of waiting for the race to start was when Bobby, a rather famous foreign TV talent in Japan stepped into the group of runners a few paces away from me.  He had cameramen and photographers all a round him, so that gave me something to watch while the rain continued to fall. I would have liked to get a photo of all the goings-on, but due to the rain I had decided to not run with my camera as I would have probably shorted it out had I used it in the rain.

So there I was, the minutes counting down to the start, staying reasonably dry (but not warm), with the exception of my feet since my shoes were slowly soaking up the rainfall.

Then, after a minor eternity the race was on!  And off I went, WALKING for the first 5 or 6 minutes as the marathon mob slowly filtered through the starting gates.   Think of the entire resident population of the Super Dome trying to squeeze through a couple of  narrow streets and you will get an idea of how congested the start of the race was.

After going about half a kilometer down the road things started to open up a bit since the road was getting much wider.  It was still packed in pretty tight, and because of this I could not really see the road in front of me.  That was when I ended up running through a long deep puddle, completely soaking what were up to that point only semi-damp feet.  Not a good start.  More than 40 kilometers to go, and I would be doing it with soaking wet shoes.

As the kilometers started to click by, the rain continued to fall, the wind started to pick up, and the temperature continued to drop.  While running through Ginza, around the 20 kilometers mark I noticed a thermometer on a building at it said 3 degrees C.  Shortly after that I felt a brief spattering of hail, but only for a couple of minutes.

Because it was so cold, I had to make periodic periodic stops every 5 or so kilometers to stretch my legs.  The cold was keeping my muscles tight, and there was not much I could do about it.

What really kept me going was the crowds that were lined up on both sides of the road for nearly the entire 42 kilometer course.  I heard “Ganabatte!”, “Faito!!”, and “Go!!!” more times that I could even begin to count.  The only places were there were no spectators to rally the runner on were the couple of bridges near the end of the race since.

The  really nice thing about the crowd was the support they provide to the runners.  And I’m not just talking moral support.   People in no way officially connected to the race would have prepared snack and energy foods ahead of time.  They would then hold them out on plates so runner could grab then as they passed.

Slices of lemon, orange, and mikan.  Chocolates, sweet hard candy, bananas, and my personal favorite: small homemade chocolate cookie wafers loaded with salt, each individually wrapped in plastic.

As a result of the spectators thoughtfulness to make all of these treats, I ended the race with a full stomach, almost too full in fact.   The extra helpings of snacks along the way might have actually slowed me down in the long run, but were it not for the cheering crowds I am sure that it would have been a much more difficult experience.  I appreciate each every spectator that took the time to come out and stand out in the rain to cheer all the runner on.

The absolute worst part of the race for me was kilometers 30 though 35.  After that I could sense the end and I actually started to speed up.  This tells me that i didn’t push myself hard enough for the first half of the race, and I was saving too much energy.  During the first half of the race I did think that maybe I was making that mistake, but I was also worried about burning myself out too early.    I guess I will be able to better judge things the next time I run.

You can check out the splits in my overall time of 4:20: 25 by following this link and entering my bib number: 27427.

After finishing I got my medal, and headed to the area where I could pick up my change of clothes, although the had seemed to have misplaced my bag so it took them about 15 minutes to actually find it.  Not that I minded though, because while I waited they had a nice soft chair for me to sit in, all wrapped up in warm blankets.

After they located my bag I headed to the changing area and stripped off my soaking clothes and shoes, toweled myself off, and changed into a set of dry clothes.  I was happy to notice that my feet had held up incredibly well, and had given me absolutely no problems, even though they were wet for the entire race.   I saw some other people who were not so lucky.  One guys socks were dripping red, and in places his shoes had worn completely through his socks,and deep into his skin.

My leg muscles were obviously sore, but today, just three days after the race and I am feeling back to normal.  I’m actually itching to go on another run if you can imagine that!

So in summary The Tokyo Marathon, aka “My Blind Date”  turned out to be quite an ugly one, but they day was not a total loss as she ended up having a great personality.  :)

“Finely orchestrated chaos”, or as I like to call it, “Tsukiji Fish Market”.

Click here for todays photos

On Saturday I woke up at O’ dark-thirty, packed my Nikon D700 and four primes in a bag and caught a train up to Tsukji to spend a morning shooting pictures as part of a Japanorama workshop.  Due to the frenetic pace of the place (it is a fully functioning fish market) the group size was restricted to six students and two instructors.  As soon as I saw this one posted at Japanorama I rushed to sign up, knowing that the student slots would fill up fast.

For those of you you plan on going to see the Tsukiji fish market I have one word of advice.

Go early.  (OK, maybe that’s two words, but you know what I mean)

The place is a beehive of activity, and it only starts to wind down shortly before 10 a.m..

To sum the place up in a phrase I would have to choose, “finely orchestrated chaos“. Everyone and everything is in constant motion, including a lot of the fish!

The game plan was to make a couple of loops through the heart of the action, shooting short telephoto (85mm’ish) on the way in, and wide (20mm’ish) on the way out.   I was solid on the 85mm department, since I had my Nikon 85mm f1.4 with me.  But on the wide side I went a little nuts and tried using a Tamron 14mm f2.8, which turned out to be entirely too wide.  I rather quickly swapped that out for a 35mm f2 (my next widest lens).  I did shoot a few images with a 50mm, but that was the exception.  The idea was to obtain some reportage type shots through the use of these two focal lengths.  The wides to set the scene, and the telephoto to fill in the details.

This was not my first (or second, or even third) trip to Tsukiji, so adding some external structure to my shooting was a very good thing.  The tips and guidance provide by Alfie and Hunter were very much welcome as they helped open my eyes to some new ways to see and capture things.  This prevented me from falling back into my own personal comfort zone of shooting.

I definitely feel that I got a higher percentage of keepers that on my previous trips to Tsukiji.

This time I used the two extreme focal lengths

The real lesson for me was that I need a 20mm lens.  There seems to be no better focal length for dragging the shutter and getting some closeup people shots.

And there is a lot of people to see:

People hauling Styrofoam boxes on their shoulders, men pulling two wheeled carts heaped with seafood, and funny looking self-propelled three wheeled wagons that can turn on a dime and give you six cents change. (A very necessary feature in the crowded rows of fish mongers.)  The real change since my last trip to Tsukiji is that now a lot of these self-propelled carts are electric powered, so you can’t hear them coming.  You really have to keep your head on a  swivel to make sure you don’t get run over.

One thing that always strikes me about the place was just how clean it is. For a place that moves more than 5 million pounds of fish (worth nearly 30 million dollars) daily, the place has no fishy smell.

Part of the reason is that everything is so fresh. The other reason is that the place is given a very thorough cleaning at the end of each day.

5 million pounds of fish a day.

Think about that for a minute.

That is more than 10 times the volume of New York City’s Fulton Market, the largest seafood market in America.

Pretty impressive.

Tsukiji has already been reported to death on the internet so I will not try and give the whole history behind the place. Anyone interested in learning more need do nothing more that a quick google search and you will have loads of information to read.

It’s a must see for anyone who wants to get some interesting photos, as well as a snack of some of the freshest sashimi you are likely to ever come across.

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FYI – I just fell off the wagon again and ordered a Canon 5D Mark II.  Soooo,  I will soon be putting my trusty 5D mark I up for sale.  The going rate for used 5D’s seems to be about $1,200, but I figure I would offer it up here first for $1,000 (plus any insured shipping costs and/or paypal fees).

If I had to guess I would say it has about 40,000 actuations on it (the 5D shutter life is rated at 100,000 actuations) and it is in very good condition.  It comes with 3 Canon batteries (all hold an excellent charge), an 8 GB memory card, and all the original odds and ends (battery charger, strap, etc.) and the original packaging/box.

It has been lovingly used by me for the past four and a half years, but selling it will help fund the Mark II, so I will have to let it go.

If anyone is interested, please let me know.  If there is no interest here I’ll be posting at the usual online photo gear selling websites.  (But I would much prefer to give a better deal to one of my regular viewers.)

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ps: My heartfelt thanks go out to all of you who have been ordering prints from my Smugmug page.  Your continued purchases have helped to fund the 5D Mark II, and I will be sure to do my best to keep serving up fresh content for you all.  The video capabilities of the 5D Mark II particularly intrigue me, so expect to see some videos in the future.

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For those of you in Germany, check out page 28 of the February 2010 issue of FHM.  You’ll find one of my photos there.

For those of you in Japan, pick up a copy of the Metropolis 2010 calendar, one of my photos has been used for the month of February.

Seems like February is a hot month for me…

Last Sunday I met up with about 30 of my closest friends.  On the third Sunday of every month the Tokyo Cameras club gets together to shoot pictures, and last Sundays location was Rikugien Park in Tokyo.  It’s near Komagome Station on the Yamanote line.

Club votes on the location for each months get-together, and the last two finalists were Rikugien park, and Yokohama Chinatown.  I was pulling for Chinatown as it is a whole lot closer to where I live.  And to tell the truth i was a bit bummed when Rikugien ended up winning the vote.  But, not to be deterred by a 90 minute train ride (That’s what iPods were invented for) I happily hopped on the train.

After getting to Komagome station, Saori and I stopped in at Matsuya for a quick meal of beef with rice and a bowl of miso soup.  Speaking of Matsuya, I am completely impressed with traditional fast-food in Japan.  Be it Udon, Ramen, or Gyudon, it’s always completely and satisfyingly delicious, not to mention worlds healthier than western style fast food.  Think of Puppies frolicking through a field of MORE puppies and you will get an idea of how satisfying a good bowl of gyudon and miso soup can be.

Thinking that I may find it hard to find interesting things to shoot in a park, I stopped in at a combini for a couple of cans of liquid inspiration  (aka: BEER)  ans set off down the street towards the park.  Polishing off the second can  just as I was passing a recycling bin near the park entrance, I dropped the can into the bin, and pulled my camera of the day out of my backpack.  (Olympus E-P1) I pulled off the lens cap, checked to make sure the battery was charged, the memory card was empty, and the lens was clean.  Check, check, check.  ”OK, time to go see if I can scrape together some images from this park” I thought to myself.

Boy, were my feelings wrong.  The park ended up being spectacular.  Not at all crowded, and beautiful.  It also helped that the weather was absolutely perfect, the ideal autumn day: clear skies, dry, and moderate temperatures.  It turned out that I didn’t need the beer after all.  (Although even knowing that ahead of time would probably not have stopped me)

The lenses that say the most use while using the E-P1 was the standards kit zoom (14-42mm f3.5-5.6), and a manual Olympus Zuiko 55mm f1.2 .  The kit zoom is spectacularly sharp, and built in such a manner that it can collapse down into a quite compact form when not in use.  The 55mm f1.2 equates to a rather ridiculous 110mm f1.2 on the E-P1s cropped sensor, so the shots and perspectives you can get are pretty fun.  It’s soft as hell wide open, but the bokeh is to die for.  Stopped down it gets satisfactorily sharp.

To make a long story short, the three hours of shooting went by all too fast. but now that I have gotten a taste of the place, I will be sure to return when the maple leaves are in all their full autumnal splendor.

So I guess the moral of the story is, ” Don’t be too quick to judge something before you get a chance to experience it” and also “Beer never hurts”.

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In case anyone is interested, I took part in another episode of “Cool Japan”.

It will air at the following times:
Nov. 17 (Tue) 22:00〜22:44 (NHK BS Hi-vision)
Re-run – Nov. 22 (Sun) 0:10〜 0:54（NHK:BS-1)

Click HERE for todays photos.

Last Friday, a normal workday for me, I took the day off just because it’s Sakura season.  It’s a wonderful time of year, the cold of winter is over, the days are getting longer and it’s starting to warm up. But it’s not yet sticky and humid like summer so the skies are still brilliant blue.

It had been a long time since I took a day off from work just to go to take photos, usually I spend my weekends doing that, but the weather has just gotten so nice recently I couldn’t help myself.

And this trip to Kamakura was a little bit different than others that I had taken in the past. For the first time in my nine years of living in Japan I did the tourist thing and rented a bicycle, at Kamakura station.  I can’t believe it took me this long to get around to doing that. Probably the main reason is because since I live here, I have plenty of time to see Kamakura and I don’t feel the need to rush, thus I never felt the need to rent a bicycle. I was content just to spend my time walking, wandering really.

I was pleasantly surprised not just at how much ground that could cover by using a bicycle but just how much more “concentrated” the place felt when I was using a bicycle. Instead of spending 80% of my time walking between locations, that was cut down to maybe 15% or 10% of my time so it really felt like I could see a lot of things in a relatively short period of time.  And as a result, I think I was able to get a higher percentage of good photos.

I didn’t rent a bicycle as soon as I got to Kamakura because it was too early in the morning and the bike rental shop was not open. I do like to get there early in the morning because I can feel like I have the place to myself.  The only other people around are maybe one or two other photographers such as myself and the people who work at the temples and shrines.

By the time I was done shooting near Kamakura station, the bicycle rental shop was open. So I rented my single speed Mama-Chari with the requisite basket in front, # 47 to be exact,  and proceeded to peddle my way over to Hokokuji, otherwise known as the bamboo Temple. Three of today’s photos were taken at Hokokuji Temple. The first one being the temple bell, the next one being the green ojizou, and the third one being the entranceway showing the path, gravel rock garden, and the cherry trees in addition to the temple buildings. It was a beautiful morning really, and seeing as I got there right before the place opened at nine o’clock, as I got to the bamboo grove in the back I had the place completely to myself, which is always a nice thing.

From there I pedals to Ankokoronji Temple, that’s in the southeastern side of Kamakura city.  And it didn’t take me very long to get there, and seeing as it was still pretty early in the morning there were not a lot of people there so it was nice to not have to jockey for position and instead have the photographs just present themselves to me for the taking.  Two of today’s photos were taken at that Temple, the first one with the maple leaves with a red background.  The red background was the felt covering of a bench where people can sit down and have tea at the temple. The second picture is of the worshiper chanting and hitting the drum in front of the temple.

After I got my fill of uncle Ankokuronji I then peddle down to the ocean near Yuigahama beach and headed west.  I then circled my way around stopping off at Hase-Dera, and then looping my way back to Kamakura station.

Not the most exciting day, but exactly what I was looking for.