@Akihabara

Hope you’re well.

Was looking through my back catalogue trying to decide which photo I should upload, but…

“Indecision clouds my vision…”

Sort of like this guy looking for the right book to read.

Applicable to all aspects of my life at the moment.

Well, I suppose, I made a decision with this one in the end.

Just a quick update to show the view from my window…

Film: Kodak TRI-X 400

This man was sitting on a rock looking out over the city of Onomichi in Hiroshima prefecture. He was painting a scene of the town in the valley below.

This was one of the last rolls of film I shot in Japan, given to me by a friend.

I scanned the negatives yesterday in my house in England.

Sitting here in my slightly chilly room, looking out at the rolling fields of green with horses grazing on them, I can’t believe that last week I was wiping sweat from my brow, squinting at the harsh sharp mountains of Onomichi in the sweltering heat.

I’ve realised that it’s going to be difficult to forget Japan…

But that’s why I’m not even going to try to.

When I see this man sitting high up on a rock, far away from the village down below him, it makes me understand my situation better.

Sometimes it becomes easier to view a concept, a thing, an experience when one steps away from it.

Now, stepping away from where I was, I have the time and space to myself to look over my back catalogue of photos (both film and digital) and pick those that sum up Japan the best. I’ve decided that I will try to keep sketching out my experience of Japan through my photography.

Of course, while writing this, the sun has come out from behind a cloud and I’ve realised it’s going to be difficult not to get sidetracked by these rolling green fields…

I’m in a period of transition.

I’ve not left Japan yet, but I don’t feel like I’m here anymore.

My mind is making its way back to England as we speak, but it is not sure what to expect, or what it is looking for.

My heart is beating like crazy in the heat of the Japanese summer.

The only reassuring thing right now is that my body is here, in front of this screen, tapping away on these keys…

…as a whole, unbroken, undivided…

…but missing something.

I hope that my mind, body and heart will all sit down, relax, drink wine and dine together soon.

…and his dogs

A bold statement to make, but I think it’s probably true. Considering I didn’t sleep last night, I think I did pretty well for myself. Wandering in a slightly drunken haze through the Peace Park in Hiroshima today I had an idea all of a sudden.

Armed with my 50mm prime f/1.8 lens I decided I would play a game with people.

I approached pretty much everyone who looked like they were willing to have a bit of fun. I went up to them and immediately explained my game.

Rules:

I play one game of janken (paper, scissors, stone) with them. If I win, I take a portrait shot of them; if I lose, I don’t take a photo.

Simple game and easy to understand. I explained in Japanese to Japanese people, and in English to everyone else. There was only one Romanian guy with his family who struggled with the rules of janken. He said it was too complicated. I gave up.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I met people from all over the world and got into some great conversations. It’s amazing how friendly and genuine people are if you just go up, take a chance and talk to them. Here are all of the shots I took of people.

These two pretty girls were from Finland. There eyes caught my attention when I was walking along. I didn’t janken with them.

I think this guy was from India…

This guy was an engineer from the States

He took this photo of me. I was using the camera at f/1.8, so the depth-of-field was tiny. He didn’t get the focussing right for this shot, but I like it anyway. It has a dreamy quality to it…

This guy was also from the States. He was just chilling on a bench thinking. Nice guy…

This girl is from Korea and I actually know her from JET. I did a translation and interpretation course with her in December. As an indication of how drunk I still was, I blabbered away in Japanese to her for about 5 minutes before I realised that I knew her. She was the only person I took 2 photos of. Everyone else was a one-shot-wonder.

I forget where these two were from, Aichi or Nagano maybe? I’m pretty sure they were from out of town though.

I lost a game to one woman, who then insisted on taking a photo of me with my camera because she won…

This kid was half Japanese and half Romanian. Cool kid.

I also forget where these two were from… Sorry!

These two were on holiday from Australia.

From Italy…

This guy was selling sumi-e. I was supposed to buy that one for 3,000 yen, but I forgot to go back and get it. My one regret of the day. I hope he wasn’t angry that I didn’t go back…

This family were from Hokkaido. The little girl was having mixed-feelings about being photographed and the parents started to kind of pressure her into cooperating. So I snapped this as fast as I could. I didn’t want to make her feel crappy. 

This is the A-bomb dome. I’ve included it in the series as a reminder that most of the people I took photos of today had come here to remember the terrible event that happened in Hiroshima all those years ago. This is one of the buildings that was left standing after the bomb. It is left here as a reminder to us all about the terrible event.

Stark contrast to the beaming faces I photographed that day.

This is my favourite photo of the day I think. These two were a lovely couple from New York originally, but now living in New Zealand. Really nice people. The irony is that I lost the game, but talked to them for so long that I couldn’t NOT take a photo of them…

When I lost originally, the guy took this photo of me. Nice shot!

These two girls were my last shot. They were from Okayama. We connected on Twitter right there. Another shot that I took, even though I lost to them!

A big thank you to all I met that day. It really was a lovely day meeting and talking to friendly people. It’s a shame I didn’t get to take photos of a lot of the people I met – but I suppose that was the nature of the game.

Brilliant day…

… made even better when I came home to find David Mitchell’s new book waiting for me in my postbox…

皆さん、本当にありがとうございます。

私のメルアドは「nicholas.j.bradley@gmail.com」です。自分の写真が欲しかったら、そのメルアドにメールを送って下さい。直ぐに大きいなファイルを送りますよ。

If you want any of the photos above, send me an email to nicholas.j.bradley@gmail.com and I will send a big file size to you free of charge.

Thank you so much!

おやすみなさい！

Went for a walk near my house after work today and took some photos on film. Already had them developed and scanned onto a CD. Fast work!

Not much to say about these really.

Symmetry is always there if you look closely.