street photography in tokyo - etiquette?

dingadingdang

dingadingdang

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I'm going on a business trip to tokyo next week and I'll be staying over the weekend to take photos and look around.
Are there any particular rules or etiquettes I should be aware of taking photos of people in the street which are peculiar to Japan? Anything I should be careful of (photographing yakuza etc)
Will I be largely ignored or will it offend?
Anyone got any tips on where to go? I've got a couple of places on my list from lonely planet but I'd be interested in finding an older neighbourhood (if there are any left!)
Thanks
Craig
 
I spent a month travelling around Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kagoshima, a couple of years ago. Street photography was extremely easy, even if I was noticed nobody took any offence at all.

Tokyo is a vast and incredibly busy city, you won't really stand out.

Ian
 
Pack'n who is a famous comedian in Japan, he is an American and speaks Japanese very well fluitfull of about 10 years staying study. He said, Japanese was gentle when I was hard to speak Japanese but now are harsh. That's an answer at all.
 
If someone is carrying a Samurai sword, I think it would be smart not to try to take his (her?) photo. Otherwise I think the Japanese are not 1% as shy or offended as Koreans are to be photographed.

However contrary to iml's comment, if you are a Westerner, you WILL stand out. You just gotta learn to live w/ it.
 
I don't know how brave Ed was but he was a hell of a photographer. If those guys are yakuza, then they looked a hell of a lot cooler than they do nowadays.
 
Tokyo is so much fun to photograph ... No need to worry just have fun...

Shibuya , Shinjuku , Harjauku are great places to check out ...walking around all hours of the night is quite safe and can be very interesting ,,,,,, the Yamanote line is just one big circle so it easy to to check out different places or just cruise on the train and takes photographs ..... Watch out for girls with Umbrellas ..they are masters at blocking your shot with them LOL
I saw quite a few people photographing out on the streets ... anything from medium format to rangefinders ... In Japan if they don't make eye contact then you don't exist ...so for the most part you will be somewhat ignored...
I will be there next month :)

This is a photo of a "catch" guy in Shibuya ,,,, his job is to approach every girl he sees and try and get them to work in a hostess bar .... I took this photo while he was doing his thing .. I was about 3 feet away from him taking photos of his interaction with this girl ,,, he did not miss a beat nor acknowledge I was even there ... I hung out on this corner for about an hour photographing him and his friends ... not once did they make eye contact with me .... they were relived when I left .
 

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I would just use common sense and common courtesy. People are getting a bit warier of having their picture taken here, and you will have people duck to get out of the way (sometimes because they think they will spoil your shot), but I rarely have had people tell me not to—and in those cases they were either carnival booth guys (maybe not yakuza, but in neighboring territory) or security guards.

I have found the best and easiest place to take pictures is at a public event like a festival, or in places like Shibuya or Harajuku that are swarming with people with cameras anyway.

I'd also recommend the Tsukiji fish market, which is open to the public (inner wholesale market from the wee hours to about 11:00 am; outer retail market from about 8:30 to early afternoon) and full of stuff to see. Also Ameya Yokocho, an outdoor market running alonside and underneath the Yamanote Line tracks from Okachimachi to Ueno. Full of people and life.

I have some photo sets of various of these places on my zenfolio site if you want to look.
 
Thanks guys, some useful stuff there, can't wait to go now!

I definitely want to go to Tsukji fish market, it looks pretty dark in there though, I've got some ISO800 film (C41) and 40 f1.4, do you think that's going to be fast enough.

Bill, I think I'm used to standing out now, I've been in shanghai for 2 years and I'm sure I get stared at here much more than I will in Japan!
 
40 1.4 on a film body with 800 ASA film should be perfect. Most of the shooting I have done there has been with an R-D1 with a Zeiss 24/2.8 or a Summitar 50/2 and using ISO settings of 400 or 800.

Have fun!
 
The Japanese may not be as camera-friendly, but it's really not that far apart from what you'd get traveling in other developed nations. People will be suspicious to some extent, but it gets better with a little bit of alcohol and humor.

Check out the Tokyo section of my website below.
 
Bill58 said:
However contrary to iml's comment, if you are a Westerner, you WILL stand out. You just gotta learn to live w/ it.
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Well, that wasn't my experience, in any of the cities I visited. It was only once I got down to the far south that I saw very few westerners and people took more of an interest in me. Tokyo is a pretty cosmopolitan city nowadays, in the 2 weeks I spent there I met Japanese (obviously), English, Americans, Belgians, Germans, Koreans, etc etc. This was 2 years ago. I took hundreds of street photographs and nobody took any notice of me at all. At the time I was using an SLR too, not a small and discreet camera.

Ian
 
dingadingdang said:
I definitely want to go to Tsukji fish market, it looks pretty dark in there though, I've got some ISO800 film (C41) and 40 f1.4, do you think that's going to be fast enough.
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I shot 400 speed film with f/3.5 and f/4 lenses, so you should be all right. Get there early - 5am is a good time, but you can go at midnight and hang out all morning. There is nothing but fish heads and cats by 9am.
 
Just use your common sense and you'll be fine. I received more agro from people not wanting to be photographed during a four day trip to Korea than I have in 12 years living in Japan.

Here's some of those "catch" guys working the intersection at the entrance to Kabukicho in Shinjuku, the biggest red light district in Japan. In typical Japanese style they have a "uniform" .... big bleached hair, pointy shoes, dark pinstripe jacket, white shirt with large upturned collar etc. A dead givaway. They hardly gave me a second glance.

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