Tokyo (from my perspective)

[Frontman]

Great shots. No wonder I moved to Tokyo...

 

[Lax Jought]

I'm really loving your photos Gavin, great photography. That last photo in your second series is really good to my eyes, the grain! Do you mind explaining how you got that shot - how dark was it, aperture etc?

Great shots. No wonder I moved to Tokyo...

What do you do up there?

 

[gavinlg]

Great shots. No wonder I moved to Tokyo...

Thankyou, I'm envious - I'd love to live there for a few years.

I'm really loving your photos Gavin, great photography. That last photo in your second series is really good to my eyes, the grain! Do you mind explaining how you got that shot - how dark was it, aperture etc?

Thanks a lot! The last photo in the second series was just walking through an open restaurant area in Shinjuku with my canon 1n and the zeiss 35mm f2, loaded with natura 1600. Lens was prefocused to a couple of meters, set at f2 and I was just sticking the camera out blindly and snapping the scenes of chefs and people eating. Exposure would have been 1/60th or so. Some turned out, some didn't.

The atmosphere in and around these little street eateries is amazing - it would be hard not to get some interesting photos!

 

[v_roma]

Great, great photos. Enjoying them very much. Keep them coming.

 

[gavinlg]

I'm guessing this was taken in the little area just north of Shinjuku Station. When I first came to Japan in 1995, I used to eat ramen there on the way home after a night of drinking. Fun times. Its changed a lot since then though. I don't think there's any ramen places anymore - mainly sushi and yakitori for the tourists. Now almost all the staff working in those restaurants are Chinese or from other parts of Asia, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the whole place feel like a bit of a tourist trap rather than an authentic cosy corner of Tokyo.

Yep I think you're correct on being the little area north of shinjuku station. I didn't eat there but it sure smelled amazing walking through it. I really tried to eat where I saw the regular locals eating though - most of the time I had little idea what I was getting, but everything was delicious and surprisingly cheap.

 

[steamer]

I really tried to eat where I saw the regular locals eating though - most of the time I had little idea what I was getting, but everything was delicious and surprisingly cheap.

You mean those places with the big yellow "M," outside, not sure what they call them, but they are always packed with locals and the food is cheaper than anywhere else. 😉

Like your photos.

 

[urban_alchemist]

Beautiful photos, and a great dip into the weird and wonderful city of Tokyo. As the author David Mitchell wrote (I still think this the best description of Japan): "Every country is different, but Japan is differently different."

I spent quite a bit of time there (my grandmother is a Tokyo-it and my mother was raised there until 11); my wife has only been once, and dreams of it ever since. Hands down her favourite city in the world. We're going again in early April, and neither of us can wait...

Your shot a place in Shinjuku reminded me of a photo I took when I was in Tokyo last - this one taken in Ginza Corri-dori. Hope you don't mind me adding it to the thread...