I took today’s photo from the outside perch of the restaurant on the top floor of Joypolis. This is the Tokyo Bay with the Rainbow Bridge connecting my location at the time (Odaiba お台場) with the main part of Tokyo. Tokyo Tower is to the right.

This is one of those scenes that my LX3 does a much better job with than my TZ7. I tried this shot with both cameras and varying exposure lengths. The TZ7 couldn’t capture it as well with an exposure of 1 second or less. I needed that LX3’s 5-second exposure and better sensor.

This picture would probably look a whole lot better if my blog had a black background. Click on the image for a bigger and better view.

Posted on February 25th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: night photography, odaiba, rainbow bridge, Tokyo, tokyo tower. Comments: 5

Another shot from the Ebisu Garden Place Tower… I really love it when the sky does this.

Posted on February 6th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: aerial photography, clouds, skywatch, Tokyo. Comments: 2

A mere 370 yen train ride from Shinjuku lands you at the bottom of Mt. Takao. There are lots of ways to get up the mountain. We took the Inariyama Trail as our guidebook says it is the least crowded and includes nice views of Mt. Fuji. Neither was true on this day.

Our best views of Mt. Fuji were from the train on the way there and from the train on the way back. While we were hiking and when we ate lunch on the top of Mt. Takao, Mt. Fuji was mostly obscured by clouds. If you want a picture of Mt. Fuji and can see Mt. Fuji from the train (after Kitano Station) you may want to hop off at the Keio-Katakura Station (京王片倉駅) as there is a good view from the station platform (near the rear of the train). You can then get on the next train and your train fare won’t be any different, assuming you don’t exit the station.

I was amazed at the crowds. I figured few would be climbing Mount Takao in winter, on the last Wednesday of January no less. Not so. The trail was swarming with people and hundreds of people were on top of the mountain. I can’t imagine how crazy crowded it must be on a weekend or holiday during spring, summer, or fall.

Takaosan Yakuoin Yukiji Temple (高尾山薬王院有喜寺) was one of the nicer temples I’ve experienced. Don’t miss it if you are hiking Mt. Takao. We almost did.

The colorful flag/banner/hanging seemed to be on all of the Buddhist temples during January. They are gone now that February has arrived.

Posted on February 4th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, hiking, Mt. Takao, temples, Tokyo. Comments: 1

I read somewhere that on Coming of Age Day (成人の日, second Monday of January) there is an annual archery exhibition at Meiji Jingu (明治神宮). My class was cancelled for the holiday so we went to take a look. Unfortunately, there are no signs and we got bad directions a couple of times. It turns out there were two different archery activities going on (but we didn’t realize that until later). Anyway, we found this one (on the north side, much closer to Yoyogi Station than Harajuku Station), and it was fun to watch.

Each archer fires at their own pace after going through a series of ritualistic steps. They get two arrows each. I believe only those who hit the target twice are invited to stick around for the finals. I don’t know this for certain as we didn’t stay until the end, but some people were leaving while others weren’t.

In the photo above you can see the results of a couple of archers who had to be thinking “if only…” It doesn’t matter which part of the target you hit. Dead center (a bullseye) counted the same as an arrow stuck in the outer fringe.

There were two, really amazing archers. One was the guy above and another was a lady. Why were they amazing? Both were shaking like crazy until a split second before they let their arrows fly. One of the lady’s arrows actually fell to her feet while she was loading it she was shaking so badly. But both hit the target with both of their arrows. From the way they were vibrating I would have bet they would have hit someone in the audience before they hit the target.

After departing we found the place doing momoteshiki (百々手式) and caught the tail end. Pictures from that more stylish event will be coming soon.

Posted on February 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: archery, meiji jingu, Tokyo. Comments: 2

Today’s first picture is an example of how to not do night photography. I only had my TZ7 with me at the time. Although the TZ7 can accidentally take pictures at night with the correct exposure, it doesn’t usually. I couldn’t get it to take any with an exposure length of more than 1 second or less than 15 seconds, and you can’t manually set it for exactly 4 or 5 seconds, which is what this view needed. The above is the 15-second version, which turns the train into a nearly complete ghost. I’ll get a better picture of the Toden Arakawa Line (都電荒川線) at night with my LX3 (which does allow for any exposure of my chosing) one of these evenings.

The Arakawa Line is the closest train system to our apartment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go where we usually need to go and is slow compared to the Tokyo Metro and other train systems we can choose from. But it is a fun train to ride when you aren’t in a hurry and have no place in particular to go. You can ride it all day, getting off and on as many times as you wish, for just 400 yen. Kids (under 12) pay half price to ride.

This old, streetcar, tram type line feels a bit like riding the San Francisco Cable Car. The controls all seem to be mechanical. There are no computer displays or buttons to push. Instead, levers are pulled and switches are flipped. This is the last of its kind in Tokyo, even though the city was covered with them in the first half of the 20th Century.

There are several interesting neighborhoods near the Minowa end of the line.

Here is a video I took of a little stretch. Unfortunately, no streetcar passed us going the other way while this was being taken. Other than having to wear a tie, I think this would be a very fun job to have–at least for a year or two.

Posted on January 28th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: night photography, Tokyo, trains, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: 1