I decided to do street photography in Ikebukuro for this article.  It is one of the stations on the Yamanote line I rarely visit.  It was time to change that. Bic Camera in Ikebukuro. The weather wasn’t on my side.  It was good, sunny with some clouds when I left the station.  But, after a short time, it degraded, and the sky became overcast. That was a shame because I had hoped for some good light.  It would have been nice to play with some shadows.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The other problem wasn’t knowing the area around the station well.  Most t ..read more

Tokyo is a photographer's mecca. If you visit here, you’ll want to get your own pictures. You know the ones, they visually tease your Instagram followers and Facebook friends. It’ll be hard to choose the right places if you don’t know where they are. Well, I’m here to help you with that. So grab your camera! And start thinking of your hashtags because here are my top 10 Tokyo photo spots, in random order. I hope you enjoy the list. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building has the best free observatory in Tokyo. The views are stunning, especially at night. F ..read more

One of my favorite annual events is the Tokyo Auto Salon. It is a lot of fun. You can enjoy a lot of amazing cars, and you get to see some great models. Well, this year, I didn’t see many of the girls but I saw a lot of vehicles. Here are my top 10 (not in any particular order)! 1. Honda Civic Type R: This car looked amazing. It was black and had Rs in red and cars in white all over it. The effect made it look like scribble at a cursory glance. Visually speaking, it was the best-looking car at the show. Honda Civic Type R Prototype with its great color scheme. 2. Ferrari Monza SP2: What can I ..read more

Recently, the Chinese photographer Fan Ho has fascinated me with his shadows.  His photos amaze me.  What he could do with light and dark was astounding.  I resolved to do my own.  So I headed to Nishi-Shinjuku to see what I could come up with. Well, skill levels aside, there are more differences between Ho and me.  One is that the landscapes we work with are completely different.  And Fan did much of his work in the 1950s and 1960s Hong Kong, nearly half a century ago.  Nish-Shinjuku has nothing in common with that city.  What would I do? I started wi ..read more

I like the Yasuyo Building.  It is in Shinjuku, near the JR station.  Shinjuku is a great place, but I wouldn’t go there to look for amazing architecture.  It is so hard to find in that city.  To find something memorable is difficult.  Still, there are a few around. The architect, Nobumichi Akashi, built the Yasuyo in 1969.  In this city, that is old I guess.  But even in 2022, it still looks contemporary.  It is in my top 10 Tokyo buildings list. It is attractive.  That is what made me photograph it the first time.  You can see those pictures ..read more

Not since 2018 has Tokyo had snow like this.  More than 10 centimeters fell on January 7, and it caused havoc.  Luckily I had a day off.  For me, there is nothing worse than snow and ice.  The day after, though, I have to admit that the winter wonderland it creates does look beautiful.  Tokyo, the winter wonderland, at dawn. I probably should have gone outside and taken photos or videos.  But, many years ago, I slipped on ice in Tokyo and injured myself.  Well, I doubt a bruised tailbone counts as a genuine injury.  It was hard walking for a couple of w ..read more

I used to think Tokyo Tower and Zojoji were the best of partners. Well, over time, things change. There have been changes that made me rethink their relationship. They’ve fallen a little in their photographic rankings. And that means someone else has moved up in the world - Rainbow Bridge. Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge together!  They are a fabulous pair.  One always stands behind the other!  Around them is the city skyline.   The night view is breathtaking.  For photographers, things don’t get better than this. Some would argue that Rainbow Bridge is the subject her ..read more

If you didn’t know, the Mobil Suit Gundam and cafe in Odaiba is closing.  Their last day will be January 30, 2022.  After that, they will be gone.  That is a real pity for fans of the giant robot genre.  Not knowing my own schedule for the rest of the month, I went there to get my potentially last photos of it. I’ve shot it quite a few times, but usually during the day.  On a sunny day, Unicorn looks really good.  At 19.7 meters, it is huge.  The surrounding buildings don’t dwarf the robot. You can see that article here.    The suit holds its own ..read more

The first few days of January in Tokyo are my favorite time of the year.  It’s the holiday season of course, which is great.  But more importantly, the streets are usually deserted.  I should say most of them are.  That makes it perfect for getting some different pictures of the city.   Still, there are areas where you will find crowds.  Department stores will do that.  Their sales will pull people.  Shinjuku has plenty of them.  It would be perfect for some street photography. Busy Shinjuku Isetan department store. I haven’t done much street ..read more

Happy New Year 2022 everyone!  Today we had a brutally cold winter morning on top of my apartment building in Suginami ward for New Year’s Day.  But we did have a beautiful sunrise.  There were only a few clouds in the sky.  It did make getting up very early worth it.  The Shinjuku skyline, with Suginami ward in the foreground. The view to Shinjuku was great, and the buildings looked great. I was surprised by Tokyo Tower though. For that picture, I used the Fujifilm 100-400 and was surprised by the amount of detail it picked up. Look at it carefully and you can s ..read more