Continuing Parts 1, 2 & 3 of a recent photographic trip to Tokyo, Japan.
A friend brought me to Meiji Shrine, where I was very lucky to witness a traditional Japanese wedding. I was also very lucky to borrow her lens, the EXIF data says this shot was taken at 300mm and I could never have pulled it off with the 7D kit lens. Japanese weddings seemed to be very somber; they were posing very seriously for their group photograph and I had to wait just to see the bride smile.
Another stroke of luck; I happened to be in Japan right in time for the ’7-5-3′ Festival, something I’d never even heard of before. My friend explained to me that it was a annual festival where parents will dress up their 3 and 7 year-old girls, and 3 and 5 year-old boys, in traditional kimono and bring them to the shrines for prayers, which meant lots of cute pictures.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of light in Tokyo. I thought we were a little late at getting to the shrine, this was shot at around 11 in the morning, and whereas in Singapore everything would have looked hard and harsh by that time, in Tokyo the light was still nicely soft and diffused.
After visiting Meiji Shrine, we walked out onto the streets of Shibuya where I took this shot. I have no idea what she was doing with a giant queen of hearts cut-out, but she gamely posed for me. This is what I love about shooting in Tokyo, you never know what you’re going to find just walking around.
This is the shot my friend jokingly called the ‘Japan tourism picture’. I was really lucky to be in the right place at the right time for this one, and doubly lucky to have a friend lend me his telephoto lens just then, otherwise I would have missed this.
To round the day off, my friend brought me to a cat cafe where I met the saddest cat in the world. The cat cafe was two floors full of cats, you just pay for your time and you can play with them as much as you want. Photography’s allowed, which made me delirious with joy. My friend says it’s a popular idea in Tokyo, as many apartments don’t allow people to keep pets, and I saw a couple of cat-lovers who looked like they were really enjoying themselves (the cats too).
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u didn’t tell us u went to J recently…. the neko in the last pic looked kind of grumpy. from mellow cafe ?
Forgot the name of the place, just thought of it as the cat cafe in Shinjuku. Didn’t I tell you I went in November? Oops, thought you guys might have caught the pictures on my Facebook account.