Ive always wanted to go to Japan. It’s one of those places that has always been so close, but felt so far away. Having lived in Seoul, South Korea for most of my life, Japan is only a short and fairly cheap flight away. However I have never been able to pull myself to just book a flight and go there for a long weekend (also I had no money hah….). It took one of my more adventurous friends to message me one day and tell me to join him on a spontaneous trip to Tokyo he had planned. It also timed well with my brother being in Tokyo as his friend who lives in Tokyo was getting married, and i had just got paid for some photography work I had done. While I am not a huge fan of Japanese pop culture, I am however a huge fan of Japanese food culture, the cities, and the natural landscapes.
The main tourist area in Asakusa leading up to the sensoji temple
It was a simple trip. 4 days in Tokyo, staying in a cheap 30 dollars per night hostel in Asakusa. I flew into Narita international airport, not realising that there was another closer airport, Haneda Airport… My mate met me at the airport, and with it being his first time in Japan too, we tried to figure out what train to take to get to the city centre. After figuring it out eventually, we got to our hostel without a hitch, dropped our stuff off in our room, then headed straight out into the city to get some food and to look around and take photos.
A couple dressed up in kimono's walking around Asakusa together
I had one main purpose for this trip, and that was STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. I had always known that Tokyo is a street photographers playground, with so much activity going on all day and night, with busy hectic areas but also quiet peaceful ones. Pretty much anything you could want for street photography.
a small fishing man made pond in Tokyo
I took only my Fujifilm X-T1 camera with a 35mm F1.4 and a 16-55mm F2.8. It is my go to travel camera when Im not trying to stand out too much, perfect for street photography. I love this camera, its small, looks great, has great glass, and is super simple to use with pretty much completely physical control. There is a dedicated dial for every setting, which means less fumbling around in menus and more shooting.
Yakitori being cooked in Shinjuku
The 35mm F1.4 while being a great lens with amazing bokeh, lacks in the autofocus department. Its a little slow and noisy, still fairly accurate, but many a moment has been lost because of slow autofocusing on this lens.
yakitori skewers
The 16-55mm F2.8 is a beast of a lens for the fuji system. Everything you would need from a lens within that range. Good sharpness, fast focus, low distortion, and really good build quality(then again, most all higher end Fuji-X lenses are great build quality). The only drawback to this lens however, is its size and weight. I swear it weighs more than the Fuji X-T1 body and definitely makes the camera far too top heavy. I have actually since swapped this lens out and managed to cop a 23mm and a 50mm, both at F2, that are a fraction of the size and weight, and still retain great picture quality. I can make a post on my camera gear in the future if people like to hear more about it.
Skyline shot of the architecture in central Tokyo
Anyways back to Japan. Being on a tight budget of only spending money on food and drinks :P a lot of our time was spent just walking around places, taking in the city, the sights, and the sounds. I was lucky enough to catch one of my Japanese friends during one of her visits back home in Tokyo, so we had someone able to help us translate and figure stuff out in general.
street performers in asakusa
And I must say, I fell in love with Tokyo, having spent most of my time in Seoul, another heaving metropolis of a city, Tokyo was not completely foreign to me, however it felt… different. In a good way. Small things such as the lack of littering, the acceptance of just seeing some weird shit happening in the streets and most of all the mutual respect everyone has for each other and public spaces etc. Even within the confines of a massive city like Tokyo, you’re able to find these small hidden spots where it doesn’t feel ‘Tokyo’ at all. It’s quiet, quaint and calming.
Tokyo skytree tower
The one place i will remember is Yoyogi park, home to the Meiji Shrine. My friend and i weirdly woke up pretty early one morning after a night out, and we decided to instead of going back to sleep, to instead go out and see the city in the morning. We had crashed that night at my brothers Airbnb in Shinjuku, and set out to find a bite to eat. After resorting to just eating at a convenience store, we walked to Yoyogi park. I must say it was surprising how quiet the city was in the morning, And not even super early in the morning, I’m talking like 8 or 9 AM. We were the only tourists in Yoyogi park, resulting in completely tourist free photos. We did our walking around and looking at things, and just as we exited Yoyogi, all of the tourists started to appear, and we realised we made a good choice going there so early.
Entrance to Yoyogi park, a groundkeeper sweeping up leaves before the tourist rush
After we headed back to our hostel, busted out a quick power nap, and headed back out into the town for some more strolling/sight seeing. That night, we decided to explore the area we were staying in, Asakusa. We made our way down to the Sumida river that runs through Tokyo. Local people and foreigners were all hanging out here along the river banks, drinking, shooting fireworks, and generally having a good time not disturbing anyone. However the police still came by and told them to cut out the fireworks.
Setting off fireworks along the sumida river
The day of my flight back to Seoul, we didn’t do much. We took a subway train to the imperial palace, and wandered around without any particular purpose. Just going wherever the vibe was taking us. But before i knew it, I was on the hour long train back to Narita Airport, to jump on my almost empty flight back to Seoul.
Tokyo imperial palace
My time in Tokyo was brief, but unforgettable. From the food, to the huge camera stores where i spent hours just browsing everything i couldn’t afford. I strive to somehow in the future be able to spend some time living in japan, documenting my time there while travel all over the country and see all the best landscapes, towns, villages and more.
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