Another photo from the Awa Odori Matsuri in Tokyo last month.

Here is another video from the evening. This time the video is in HD.

Posted on August 22nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: awa odori, festivals, people, Tokyo, video. Comments: None

To avoid the insane crowds, which can approach a million people, at the Sumida River Fireworks, we decided to stake out a place at the Adachi Hanabi Taikai (足立の花火) instead. Attendance the prior year was “only” 600,000 people so I arrived a little before 2 p.m. to lay down my blue tarp. Most spots were still available as it had been raining hard all morning. The wind and rain picked up at times; sometimes it seemed like a typhoon. I had to head for cover on several occasions during the afternoon.

The rains ceased just before the show began at 7:30 p.m. The atmosphere was electric. People filed in from who knows where at the last minute. The show was spectacular. Here is a short video showing just a few seconds of the full hour worth of fireworks.

Posted on July 29th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: fireworks, Tokyo, video. Comments: None

Last night (and tonight if you are in Tokyo) was the annual Awa Odori Matsuri at nearby Kagurazaka. The day was very hot so I remained indoors (with AC) until I walked the 30 minutes or so to Kagurazaka in order to arrive by the start at 7 p.m.

Summer nights have that magically feel in the air already. Add thousands of Japanese musicians and dancers to the smiling members of the audience and the evening becomes that much more special.

I have never witnessed the Awa Odori before, and I hope it won’t be my last such experience.

Here is a video I took:

Posted on July 23rd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: awa odori, festivals, people, Tokyo, video. Comments: 4

The streets on the west side of the Shinjuku Station come alive at night with office-less businesses. One is pictured above, a portable ramen shop. I was taking Ryan, on this evening, to catch a night bus. I was expecting there to be an office for the bus company at the address given, but there wasn’t. Instead, there were just some people on the street who check you in and then tell you which bus to get on.

On the train home from Shinjuku I captured a brief video between the Shinjuku and Shinokubo Stations. Another train seemed to be racing us. We stopped and it didn’t so we didn’t “win.” Check it out.

Posted on July 8th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: food, night photography, shinjuku, signs, trains, video. Comments: 1

Two creatures which are rather rare to spot in the U.S.A. but which can be found in nearly every body of water in Japan are koi (carp) and kame (turtle). This turtle was balancing precariously on a rock, perhaps posing to try and get in some pictures as the iris’s were stealing all of the glory on this day.

After getting our fill of Horikiri Shobuen (堀切菖蒲園), we walked across the way for some taiko drumming.

Crank it up and enjoy!

Posted on June 29th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: video. Comments: 1