Arrived at SFO yesterday at 9:45AM, not sure if I slept on the plane. All is well.

Let's do the numbers:

• Days Gone: 20
• Photographs taken: 4,260 (244GB)
• Average steps/day: 13,800
• Flight times: 11h over, 9h back
• Japanese Kit-Kats Eaten: ∞

I'm going to write some thoughts about the trip but I need a few more days (weeks?) to digest everything.

Thank you for tuning in.

I'm will continue posting to Instagram: instagram.com/harrisonpage/

I leave you with 3 interesting articles:

• A peek into Japan's Convenience Stores
• Why Japanese Websites Look So Different
• In defense of tourist traps

-h

The jazz band I saw earlier this week – rs5pb – was playing a stripped-down set with trumpet/piano at a jazz kissa called No Room For Squares. I contacted the trumpeter, Shinpei Ruike, and asked if I could show up and take pictures, he agreed.

The club was easy to find but when I stepped out of the elevator, the only feature in the small hallway was a Coca Cola machine... which turned out to be the door!

The band performed a short set while I relaxed at the end of the bar with a coke. Every few minutes I would sneak up to the front of the room, take a low picture or two and sneak back, the audience didn't seem to mind.

Portraits taken after the show:

In the evening, I took the subway to see my friend Cody whom I hadn't seen in years. Cody and I worked on video games in the 2010s, a hazy time in my life. We walked around the alleys in his neighborhood taking pictures and settled in for a meal where I got some cold soba noodles on a hot day.

The next day was interesting, I didn't intend to walk so much!

Started off the morning at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum where I saw 3 exhibits that included a mix of work from Motohashi Seichi and Robert Doisneau together, Tanuma Takeyoshi and a collection titled Serendipity.

Spent the afternoon with Yuko, the guide I met while attending Harvey's class earlier this month. We got some iced coffee together and visited a lovely antique store.

In the evening, from 7-10PM, I went on a photographic tour with Lukasz Palka, a friend of Cody's. We shot in Shinjuku alleyways including Nonbei Yokocho (Drunkards' Alley), Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane) and Golden Gai before returning to Shibuya's neon lights. Lukasz was kind enough to show me his favorite shooting locations, all credit goes to him for the tips and instruction.

Tonight I fly home.

Random stickers, signs and whatnot:

Next post: home again

Had a wonderful lunch at Sushi Ito Ikkan in Shibuya. Intimate place with few seats and 2 sushi chefs doting on you. 🍣

In the evening, I wandered around near my hotel searching for a jazz kissa. My first choice was closed. O, cruel world, left alone in the rain.

Persistence paid off, found a tiny 6th floor jazz bar where RS5pb was preparing to start. The band consists of a trumpeter, electric guitarist, drummer, double bass player and a pianist. Spent three hours drinking and eating dried fruit at the bar, wonderful evening.

This morning I met with Laurence Bouchard who took me on a 4-hour photographic journey around Tokyo. He showed me his favorite fishing spots and provided instruction as part of his class. All credit to the location scouting and the style of the pictures below goes to Laurence and the hard work he put in over the years finding these places and learning when to go. We walked about 5 miles in 80°F weather, thank goodness for iced coffee.

Most of my work is street portraits so Laurence's style is new to me. These are heavily cropped from 35mm.

Normally I would have converted these to monochrome but they have little pops of color: the umbrella, the tiles, the bald head.

Some architecture shots:

I have only a few days remaining: What's left of Friday (tonight), Saturday, Sunday then I fly back home on Monday afternoon. Meeting Cody Miles for dinner tomorrow night and then I will meet with Yufuko Koichi ("Yuko", our guide and translator from the latter half of Harvey and Margarita's class) on Sunday.

Your moment of zen:

Next post: last days

Short update: Yesterday I woke up gloriously late. Took a cab to Super Potato Akihabara, a retro video game store about 7 miles from Shibuya City. The store has three stories dedicated to games from older Japanese consoles.

Spent the rest of my time just wandering around, getting some exercise and dropping into interesting-looking stores.

In the evening, Jon Wilson and I walked around Kabukicho looking for air-conditioned bars to have a drink. Despite all the warnings from locals and travel blogs, this is not a dangerous area. It's well-lit and packed with people. The bottakuri dudes – barkers, trying to get you to come to a second location with the promise of cheap drinks and oThEr wOrLdly pLeAsUrEs – are easy to say "no" to, they are polite and back off quickly. Good times.

Next post: sushi and jazz

Made it back to Tokyo after a 3 hour bullet train ride from Osaka.

I'm staying at the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, cab driver assured me it was "high class." He was kind enough to point out the Imperial Palace during the ride. I'm loving the Pocketalk device, people either find it amusing or they pull out their own which allows us to go back-and-forth quickly.

After 10 days of what feels like street photography boot camp, I get to chill out, sleep in and do a whole bunch of nothing. Had a nice lunch that included french onion soup, an avocado + chicken salad and 2 "rum cokes" which I suspect were alcoholic beverages.

I had a great time running around with a bunch of very talented photographers. Kinda happy to see the city without a camera around my neck and just be in the moment... for a while. I am going out for drinks at an izakaya in Kabukicho tonight with Jon Wilson.

One of my classmates, Kathy, recommended I visit Super Potato, they open at 11AM.

More pictures from Sakai taken on Monday June 12th:

View from the bullet train window arriving at the Tokyo station:

Lovely view from the 32nd floor here:

Signs from Osaka and Kyoto:

Stickers, mostly from Osaka:

I hope to turn in some architectural and night pictures over the next few days.

Next post: alihabara

Osaka was wonderful, I could see spending a two weeks there alone. I found folks on the street to be approachable and friendly, mostly just curious why I would want to take their picture. "Photography class!" is a line that sometimes works.

On Sunday I took a break from the grind, did some shopping, got some lunch and visited the Osaka Leica Store. Bought a pair of Hokas to replace my uncomfortable New Balance shoes.

Visited Tenjinbashi Suji to visit a knife maker and view a calligraphy demonstration. The knives were beautiful and reasonably priced (about $150) with Japanese lettering on the handle.

Random pictures, a mix of rangefinder and iPhone images, some remixes from the other day:

Our fixer told me – via Pocketalk – that the town has a problem with demons and they have wards above/around their homes to protect them.

We also walked around the Shinsekai district which is said to be modeled after Coney Island.

I am writing this update on the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo where I'll pick up a cab to my next (and final) hotel for the trip. I predict today will involve soaking my poor feet and hunting for sushi.

Next post: return to tokyo

The days are starting to blur together. It's nice not having any responsibilities, I'm not in a hurry to get back home. Today I am in Osaka, the day before yesterday I was in Kyoto.

Shots around Kyoto:

Some monochrome shots from the Dotonbori street area in Osaka:

Highlights since the last update:

• Demonstration of how to create wagashi 和菓子 (Japanese sweets)
• Visited the home of a Noh 能 performer to photograph masks and costumes
• Explored the Gion District ("the famous entertainment and Geisha quarter") in the pouring rain
• Visited the Fushimi Inari shrine to photograph the torii gates
• Traveled by train to Arashimaya to see the bamboo forest
• Visited the Kuromon market
• Walked around Dotonbori street at night

I find myself fascinated by the 7-11s here.

More shots in Kyoto:

Signs and stickers:

A taxi driver showed us his artwork while we waited at red lights. We spoke through a little egg-shaped translation device called a Pocketalk, it worked quite well with little latency. When I got out of the cab, I told him how talented he was... he gave me a hug AND a gift of his work:

Some other random observations:

• not a fan of eating knuckles or hearts
• subways are exactly as crowded as everybody says, navigating them with luggage is extremely difficult
• prices are reasonable, a good cup of coffee (where beans are ground for each individual cup) is 500¥ (about $3.59)
• flavored kit-kats are a joy
• used camera stores everywhere but the gear I'm interested in is no more or less expensive than back home (for example, a Leica M3 with questionable heritage is still around $2000)
• i really need a modern mirrorless camera with all the bells and whistles, zooming with your feet and manually focusing is all fine and good but i would like to work in "easy mode" sometimes
• hotel rooms are tiny (and that's fine, i don't need much space)
• super-easy to get dehydrated when walking around the city all day, i drank 9 huge mugs of water at dinner last night
• prostitutes do not like to be photographed for some reason 🤷🏻‍♂️

Some random pictures:

I have 2 more days of class then we take the bullet train back to Tokyo where I'll stay until June 19th.

Next post: return to tokyo

The last few days have been busy:

• Tsukiji Outer Fish Market is a very difficult place to do street photography. Nobody wants their picture taken, nobody wants to deal with pasty tourists. This is street on hard mode. Super crowded + humid 80°F = not many photographs taken that I'm proud of
• Visited Asakusa and the Senso-ji Temple
• Sumo wrestling practice! Amazing that the public is allowed to attend this, it felt very intimate. The men would exercise and practice to exhaustion. They were completely committed to the bit, none of them paid any attention to the crowd of photographers which suited us just fine. It was an honor to observe these guys
• Our group visited Team Lab Planet which is an, uh, unique art exhibition. I recommend it but... if I say any more I'll ruin the series of surprises. Our instructor, Harvey, had to be rescued from one of the exhibits 😆
• Arrived in Kyoto by bullet train this morning. I'm still taking everything in, Kyoto manages to be two things at once: lovely; a tourist trap. Much easier to approach strangers here, they are already taking selfies and wearing masks and sporting rented kimonos
• Discovered an interesting way to interact with people: Ask "Instagram?" and boom, you're following each other
• Lunch at the Wabiya Korekido restaurant which was rice, chicken and 3 eggs mixed in, cooked at the table in an extremely hot bowl
• Climbed many, many stairs to visit the Kodai-ji and Kiyomizudera temples

One such temple:

Some street portraits from Kyoto:

Video from the sumo wrestling practice:

Wrestler cooling down after a series of intense matches, seemed very much like he was in pain and distress:

Buddhist temple down the street from the fish market:

The first critique went well, the group liked these images from yesterday:

Some monochrome images from the Tsukiji Outer Fish Market:

Margarita Mavromichalis having some fun:

Some signs I encountered:

This image I liked but it wasn't strong enough for class:

Stickers:

The view from my hotel window in Kyoto, heavy HDR courtesy of my stupid phone:

All right, fine:

Next post: osaka

Met my classmates in the lobby for the first time.

Everybody is supportive and sweet, a good group. Our first day out was a whirlwind of walking, we visited the Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park and then wandered around looking at shops. Large comedy scene when everybody dropped into a kimono store together, westerners out of place and a lot of laughter. We walked around Harajuku taking pictures of people in the street.

I'm out of practice taking street portraits. Without the encouragement from the class, my trip portfolio would consist of only people with their backs turned.

When I approach strangers for a portrait, I will briefly explain myself and attempt to get their blessing. Most Japanese people will laugh (I have embarrassed them!) and initially hide their faces... but once I explain myself ("I'm taking portraits for a photography class") they are mostly happy to pose. Unlike, say, San Francisco, I am refused about 66% 0f the time here with my would-be subjects crossing their arms in an X and walking away. Security guards and police really do not want to be photographed but I keep trying.

Sometimes, though, I can't resist capturing candid moments.

Walking back to the hotel in the late afternoon, we breezed through Miyashita Park with its high end stores and park on the 4th floor complete with volleyball courts, a skateboard park and a Starbucks. (Always a Starbucks.)

At sunset we had a reservation at Shibuya Sky – a 360° open-air observation deck – which offered an amazing view of the area. They even had a bar where you could order a drink and, for the cost of a bottled orange juice, get special access to one of the corners with couches.

More stickers:

Ran into a gentleman with an antique film camera (a Leica M5, of all things) who gave me some tips on how to politely ask for portraits.

Please remember "shashin daayjobu?"

Yesterday's numbers: 18,000 steps, 8.4 miles walked, 338 pictures, 12 selected to be published. My camera eats batteries, I ran through all 3. It may be time to find a mirrorless Canon or one of the Fujifilm fixed lens cameras.

MY FEET HURT SO MUCH

Next post: kyoto

I'll be in Shibuya City for 5 days staying at the Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel Tokyo. The hotel is in the middle of a shopping mall and on top of a subway route.

Spent the morning warming up by taking pictures in the area. Took 138 images, ended up with maybe 7 I like.

While exploring, I ended up walking on Cat Street this afternoon. Lots of stickers instead of graffiti.

Meeting my classmates tonight at 5:30PM for dinner.

Next post: Class: Day 1

Last night I was too exhausted to wander around so I stayed in the hotel.

💡 Lost In Translation was shot at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

As I mentioned yesterday, I got lucky with credit card points and ended up with a lovely view of, well, everything. This is easily one of the nicest hotels I've had the pleasure of staying at.

The top of the hotel has a bar with live jazz, that was a nice way to spend Thursday night. The New York Bar has an extensive drink menu and an casual dining menu. I ended up ordering the Wagyu Tenderloin Beef Chili Con Carne.

I woke up on Friday at 4AM to torrential rainfall and opted to relax in the hotel room until things around me started opening. I had fast wi-fi and a Nespresso machine to keep me company.

When 10AM rolled around, I got a taxi to the Cat Cafe Mocha Lounge in Shinjuku. Upon entering, I was asked to swap my shoes for slippers and stow my backpack in a locker. Cats everywhere! Cool space, well lit and modern. (Too bad about the stifling heat.) The cats are not unfriendly but they are also not lining up to climb into one's lap. The cafe offers beverages, a library of comics to read, no less than 4 TVs with different decades of Nintendo consoles and phone chargers.  

I ended up walking 10,000 steps all over the area visiting stores and just taking in the place. I managed to buy an umbrella, lose it and buy another one in a very short span of time. (I must have put it down somewhere? No idea.)

In particular, Kitamura Camera was especially pleasant. They have 6 stories of store to themselves, parts are practically a museum. The clerk and I spoke using Google Translate, he pulled out his phone first and so we went back and forth: "May I take a photograph of the room?" "Yes, please share it widely" he replied.

By lunch time I was so exhausted I popped into the nearest restaurant I could find and plopped into a booth, ordered the only thing I could recognize on the menu: potstickers, rice and soup for 500¥, all to the soundtrack of the same easy-listening music I grew up with.

I discovered that if I attempt to speak Japanese, I'll be met with a wall of impenetrable Japanese words and phrases spoken back at me. So I'm sticking with English for the time being... which hasn't been a problem! Everybody is so nice. I, dopey tourist.

My next stop is a different hotel across town where I'll meet up with my fellow classmates tomorrow evening.

Next post: shibuya

Short update: Left home at 7AM, took off from SFO at noon-ish and now at Midnight Pacific Time I find myself in Shinjuku City. Thankfully it's just about 5PM here now.

Flying on JAL was a dream.

I was able to sleep for a few hours, binged 5 episodes of the excellent White House Plumbers mini-series on HBO and had an wonderful dinner.

The gentleman who checked me into my hotel assures me there is live jazz and steak and booze on the top floor of the hotel, that should keep me awake.

Tomorrow I move to the same hotel as my photography class. For now, the beautiful view at the Park Hyatt Toyko is courtesy of credit card points, whatever those are. I arranged a late checkout (4PM!) so I can wander around tomorrow morning.

Next post: anyway

A slightly more detailed breakdown of my trip.

San Francisco – May 31

• Leave around noon via Japan Airlines

Tokyo – June 1-2

• Arrive on June 1
• Recover from jet lag ✈️ 😫
• Visit camera stores and cat cafes within walking distance of hotel in Shinjuku

Toyko – June 3-7

• Tsukiji Outer Fish Market
• Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park
• Harajuku
• Takeshita-dori
• Omotesandō
• Miyashita Park
• Shibuya Sky observation deck
• Sumo wrestling practice event
• Imperial Palace Garden
• Asakusa
• Sensō-ji
• Ueno
• Team Lab Planet (digital art exhibition)
• Night shoot in Shinjuku
• Omoide Yokocho 🏩
• Shinjuku Golden Gai

Kyoto – June 7-9

• Travel by Shinkasen (bullet train) to Kyoto
• Kōdai-ji
• Kiyomizu-dera temple
• Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka streets
• Yasui Konpira shrine
• Nishiki market
• Wagashi (Japanese sweets) demonstration
• Noh performer visit (Noh masks, costumes and short performance)
• Gion
• Hanami Koji
• Fushimi Inari shrine
• Arashimaya

Osaka - June 10

• Kuromon market
• Bunraku Puppet Theatre
• Dōtonbori

Nara - June 11

• Nara Deer Park
• Japanese nude hot baths

Osaka - June 12

• Tenjinbashi
• Shinsekai

Tokyo – June 13-18

• Yakushima
• TBD, I will have this time to myself

San Francisco – June 19

• Fly home in late afternoon, going back in time

Next post: arrival

A short documentary about kissaten culture by Craig Mod. Very relaxing.

Next post: Itinerary

Unsorted thoughts about traveling with tech from a horrible nerd 🤓

• Not sure if I need pocket wifi, I'm expecting Google Fi to just work 🤞🏻
• Might buy a sim card at the airport too, not sure 🤔
• For the plane ride, I have a pair of wireless noise-canceling headphones and an iPad loaded with downloads from Netflix, HBO, Disney, Plex and a metric fuckton of Kindle books (I can also just re-watch The Venture Bros!)
• Suitcase and backpack have been outfitted with AirTags
• Configured Tailscale for secure, remote access to my home network
• Installed WhatsApp for the first time
• Copies of my ID, important papers, travel plans and reference material saved to my phone so I can access it without an Internet connection
• Before I leave: Download my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist among others
• Downloaded the Google Translate language pack for Japanese
• Traveling with an M1 MacBook Air to run Photoshop and Lightroom. For years I stuck with Lightroom Classic but I'm starting to use the cloud-based Lightroom app on macOS and... I like it. It seems faster!
• The Macbook Air with a wireless mouse is a workable combination for getting things done
• Haven't worked out a backup solution yet, might settle on an external hard disk
• Need to invent an SD card management system to avoid accidentally formatting things I care about
• Installed Yurekuro Call for earthquake notifications 🙀
• Running OwnTracks on my phone to periodically save my location over time. Below is the result of some code I wrote with Python and OpenStreetMaps to show my locations during a recent trip to Florida.

• Configured a remote camera to check in on my cat 🐈‍⬛

Next post: Pizza Toast & Coffee