Mr Tanaka’s railway
Share My Rough Guide to Japan tells me that the Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo to Niigata was the most expensive train track in the world to build. It cost some 6 billion yen per kilometer and about one third of the journey is through tunnels. Built by LDP pork-barrel legend Tanaka Kakuei, the bullet train [...]
Help! Lost my phojo.
Share A new word: phojo. Seem to have lost my phojo (photo-mojo) these last few weeks. Perhaps it is the summer heat? Perhaps it is the drip drip drip of desperate news on this industry? But I am shooting less than usual and severely lacking inspiration. I’m even leaving my GR1 at home at the [...]
The fight against “Paris Syndrome”
Share Here’s a fun photo story from the Reuter’s blog. A group of Japanese expats in Paris are helping tidy the city in an attempt to ammeliorate the symptoms of “Paris Syndrome”. According to Wikipedia, Paris Syndrome is: “a constellation of symptoms primarily affecting mood which affects visitors working and vacationing in Paris, France.” Basically, [...]
Worries
Share “Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light.” Very wise words from Mattias’ blog. It made me think of the time a few years ago when I interviewed a Japanese singer and sat in on the photo shoot afterwards. Since I’d just bought my first pro Nikon digital camera, I [...]
New Year’s Resolutions
Share Sorry for the blog hiatus . . . New Year’s Resolutions Blog more often Don’t get freaked out by the poor economic climate depression Dive into multimedia (watch this space) Shed my aversion to Photoshop Take LOTS and LOTS of photos – preferably of things no-one’s photographed before. At least not in the same [...]
Hayao Miyazaki for Prime Minister
Share When Hayao Miyazaki spoke at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Tokyo he said he could never be the Prime Minister of Japan because “you can’t tell the truth to people who do not want to hear”. But here are 10 reasons why he SHOULD have the top job. (Who knows, there could be a [...]
Back in Japan / Only in Japan
Share Ahh. Back in Tokyo. Here are two things you probably wouldn`t find anywhere else! Decibel display on a building site. Musn`t disturb the neighbours. Erm . . . cheese curry pot noodle
Ping Mag
Share Japanese construction worker fashion! Very cool article from Ping Mag And if you don’t believe they are serious . . . press release (bottom of the page)
train rules
Share poster on the train asking people to “sit in the correct way” with their legs behind the line the reality!
Elepong
Share I’m writing an article on arcades at the moment . . . Japan’s first video game machine
Smarties redesigned
Share “If all the Smarties eaten in one year were laid end to end it would equal almost 63,380 miles, more than two-and-a-half times around the Earth’s equator.” BBC online
Takadanobaba Ramen shop
Share A queue for the tiniest tattiest noodle shop I’ve even seen I think. They must make some mean ramen.
