Megane-bashi

This photo of the famous “Spectacles bridge” (that’s what megane-bashi means) in Nagasaki represents everything I’m trying to “do” with my photography — that is, capture decent night scenes where the light is rich and colorful. I lack a decent tripod and a cable release, but I try to make do.

Foggy Morning

Most of these recent photos (ikebana excluded) have been from a recent 5 day whirlwind tour of the southernmost island of Japan, Kyushu. I took advantage of the marvelous seishun 18 ticket, which allows unlimited travel on Japan Rail local trains for an extremely reasonable price. Riding local trains had it’s cost though, and one morning when we awoke at 5:30AM, I was able to capture this.

Our hotel had an amazing view of Nagasaki harbor, and the interesting color comes not from the dawn light, but the immediate fogging of my filter as soon as I opened the door separating our air-conditioned room and the muggy veranda. Yeah, even at 5AM.

Tearful

 

Oddly enough, this is a picture of a cat. Just a stray we found walking around Glover Garden, in Nagasaki. It looks really sad to me.

One thing that amazes me about Japan is their utter defiance of any erosion of history (that isn’t of their own design). At Yoshinogari Koen, they rebuilt millennia old houses based on suggestions of structures they uncovered. Much of Nagasaki was consumed in the conflagration following the atomic bomb, but they rebuilt the historic dutch homes exactly like they once were (and, apparently, replanted this garden).