I came away feeling like Japan is an immediately accessible place, and yet one that is completely impenetrable. If the society has a simple, immediately recognisable silhouette, then its culture is an intricate texture of patterns and forms.
One of my mini personal projects was to look harder at these surfaces and textures. Just to force me to look up, down and sideways.
Osaka downtown – for those that have seen Black Rain, you might recognise this scene
Osakajo Icecream
Rivetting
Rusty nails
First of the inevitible bamboo
Yup
Bamboo with some sticks
Door
Lovers wishes for eachother
Some other type of wish thing
Temple roof from below
Characters in the rock
Sumptuous Fabric
Zen
Combinations
Different bamboo
Cute – a flower contemplates life
Hi
Shadowy wood
Light coming through wood – it’s not like you don’t get most of this anywhere else in the world, but it is nice to be forced to look for it!
Zen raking
Door
I love this photo – close up of the chip wood roof ’tiles’
Zen Zen Zen
I still can’t find the meaning here
Oh look at the light coming through the bamboo
Lamps in a market
The tasteful Kyoto tower refected in the thoughtful Kyoto station. Both fail to really capture the mood of Kyoto!
Plum blossom
The best shade of orange ever
Stairs
Stair close-up
Oxidised
Rather a nice wall
Oxidised 2.0
I had a beaming smile taking this photo – this is what I came to Japan for!
Some wood
This pole is worn by generations of people rubbing it
It all hinges on this
Fags
New kicks hit the streets of Tokyo
Bright lights of Shinjuku
Barrel of laughs
(and from the last trip…) Functional drinks
Blood of the city
Pachinko!