Nipponbashi Festa

This was my last photo opp before moving back to Australia. I accidentally went to the festival last year but because i was just meeting someone for lunch i didn't have my camera. I'm not sure what the festival is all about but there are lots of strange people, dressed like cartoon characters and young women dressed in maids outfits. The festival itself is just shit. They block of the street and there's a float about every 10mins that usually has about 3-5 people in it. The people in the crowd are much more interesting and thats where all my photos are from.

remember to click to see large photo

i think this is my favourite pic from the festival. the
50mm 1.8 is a great little head portrait lens on digital.

I'm not sure how old these girls were but they
were easily the favourites. Most of them work in
cosuplay maid bars in the area.

more maids

some more weird people

this guy seemed to be the pimp for one of the
girls in maid costume.

kimchi, kia and samsung

Recently i went to Seoul, South Korea for the week. My visa in Japan was about to run out and I wasn't ready to go home yet so a quick flight to Seoul for the week sounded perfect. Flights from Japan to Seoul are dirt cheap ($200 AUD) and the flight takes about two hours. It took me an hour on the bus to get to the airport, 2hrs waiting around at the airport, 2hr flight then 90min on the bus to get to the hostel. So 6 1/2 hours messing around for a two hour flight.

The first thing i noticed when i arrived in Seoul was everyone was driving a Kia or Hyundai. Every car seemed to look the same. When i got of the airport bus near my hostel i couldn't believe how many police there was. Not friendly police, ones carrying riot gear and all looking very serious. I realised a few days later that my hostel was near the Japanese Embassy. Politically things aren't good between South Korea and Japan. Also people don't ride bicycles here. In Japan everywhere you go you have to dodge people on bicycles. It felt a bit strange actually sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians.

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Gyeongbokgung Palace. Originally constructed in 1394 and was
the largest palace of the Joseon Dynasty.

the main gate of the palace. The architecture is similar to Japan
but the roof has a curve and the colours are much more vibrant.

inside the palace. I used the sb600 to illuminate the eve of the roof
to show the colours and artwork.

Sungnyemun Gate. apparently it used to close every night at 11pm
when the city had curfew. I also heard the walls and gate were to protect
the city from South Korean Tigers. Sounds like BS to me.

the changing of the guards ceremony. This happens at various
sightseeing spots around the city a few times a day.

food in Seoul is awesome. Very similar to Japanese
food but everything is very spicy. Kimchi is the staple food, it's
made from pickled cabbage and is really spicy. top left is bibimap, beef wrapped
in lettuce leaves (one of my favourites), middle left, korean style bbq ribs. really really
spicy but great. other pics are just spices and stuff from local markets.

there's military everywhere in seoul. apparently Louis
Vuitton is army issue here. You can buy a genuine handbag and
genuine sorny MP3 player at the markets for a few dollars.

I actually went to the theatre. I think it might
be the first time i've even been to a theatre. I didn't run out and
buy a tweed jacket after but i did enjoy it. It was a performance of traditional
Korean dance and music. Really amazing and probably the highlight of the trip.

i quickly found out that when it comes to shopping women are just
nasty in every country. They have really sharp elbows and get super powers
to push you out of the way. all this to buy some shitty fake brand name bag
that is one of thousands at the stall. but you have to love the sellers as you
walk past "for you special price, today only"


the Blue House, Seouls version of the white house. This guard platform was
very high tech. He had three mirrors around him.

just some traditional dress from the national museum

In south Korea a lot of people have heated floors. my hostel had
them and they're awesome. This is at one of the palaces so it's old skool. basically
make a fire under your house and stay warm.

ume part II

Otaku in Japanese pretty much means nerd and is used to describe people that go overboard with a hobby. Often people that sit indoors all day reading manga are called otaku. In Japan there's also camera otaka (which mika now calls me). They have all the greatest gear, usually at least two bodies and lenses that cost as much as most peoples cars. so i was at the castle still and noticed a big crowd of people with cameras so thought i'd better have a look. Not sure if they were a camera club but there was about 20 people set up taking photos of some type of bird on an ume branch. Looked fun so i unpacked my tripod and got out my 70-200 and teleconverter and joined in.

Here's where everyone was setup. there was about 20 photogs
and their groupies. most of them had the camo for their camera and lenses
and weird little seats that only a japanese person could sit on.

after people got bored i got a shot of my setup. nikon d80 with
sigma 70-200 and new velbon carbon fibre tripod. It's nice to use
a tripod that i can use at eye level.

Here's the fake ume branch they were putting small worms and
seeds on to attract the birds. they would put it on the flowers then
go back and hide behind the bushes and wait for about 15mins for
the bird to come back. get a few shots and do it all over again.

here's a few of my shots. It was really difficult
to get the exposure right and off course it all happens withing
a couple of seconds so easy to miss the photo opp. sorry don't know
what type of bird it is.

this was my favourite out of the keepers. again
the exposure is a bit screwy but it was midday and too
many others shooting the same thing to use my flash.


just a few more bird shots from around the park

Osaka Castle Ume (plum blossom)

Osaka castle is one of the more famous places in Japan to see Ume (japanese plum blossoms). there's a huge park at the bottom of the castle with heaps of different types of trees that will be in bloom over the next few weeks. Usually this time of year any parks that have any ume are full of old retired men with their thousands of dollars of camera gear and foreigners like me doing the sightseeing thing. I'm not really interested in flowers so not sure why i've been to so many places lately to see them but thought it was a good opportunity to get some different pictures of osaka castle.

I got to the castle around 8am and was greeted by an old man dressed as santa taking pictures of himself in front of the ume. I was suprised that there was only a few people there but was happy because i could take my time to get some pictures before the clouds came over.

santa having some "me" time away from mrs clause.

Osaka castle with some white ume in the foreground. I used
an sb600 for some foreground fill flash to get the nice blue sky
properly exposed. As they say a flash is best used in bright daylight.

It was strange to see an old man using a disposable camera.
It seems everyone over here owns an SLR camera. the hat is
pretty cool though. looks like a member of the MG club.

While i was walking around the lady on the right started talking
to me and asking question about where i'm from etc. After that she took
me for a walk and introduced me to the guy on the right. He's quite a
famous painter in Osaka and he showed me his photos with some famous
TV celebs for tv shows he's been on. here's a webpage with some of his
work http://www.geocities.jp/kumabati87/newpage13.htm. One thing
i'm really going to miss is how friendly old people are in Japan. sadly young
people seem to be as rude here as everywhere else in the world.

i think this bird is called meguro or something. Mika has told me a
few times but if it's not a pidgeon or seagull i can't remember the name.
anyway i like the colours and contrast here.

the castle from a different angle with pink
ume in the foreground.

some white ume but on a really cool tree with all the
branches draping to the ground.

this is how busy it was by about 11am. Photographers and
old women everywhere. Because i have a nikon camera often
old men will come and talk to me about cameras and point me in the
direction of good photo spots. It seems over here anyway not everyone
has switched to canon and a lot of the old guys are still shooting 35mm
or medium format.

Awaji daffodil farm

We went to Awaji Island with Mika's parents last weekend to visit a daffodil farm. It was the first time i've been to awaji and the famous bridge. i think it's the longest suspension bridge in the world or something. I couldn't believe how busy it was. there were traffic jams all the way to the park and once we got there we had to park a few km's away and catch a shuttle bus the rest of the way. I'm not really into flowers but it was a nice scene next to the ocean.

me and mika posing at the bridge. were on awaji side here with kobe
on the right.

the path leading to down to the entrance

posing in front of the flowers.

the ume were in bloom also. they're about 2 weeks early
this year.

two photos blended for shadows and
highlights

took this while waiting for the bus. couldn't resist
taking a photo with the yellow and blue sky.