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This is another photo I took while my family was visiting Matsumoto this April. The grounds outside of the castle are very pretty, but the castle grounds themselves offer some spectacular views as well. The Cherry Blossoms in the castle grounds were approaching full bloom when my family visited, and with the bright blue sky of the morning, it made a perfect foreground for the castle and a perfect atmosphere for a morning walk with my camera.
      
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There is no doubt that, at least in Tokyo, rainy season has arrived. This past week it has done nothing but rain. It makes just about everything difficult. The air on the trains gets humid and thick, which in turn makes everything smell musty. Train stations become slippery danger zones. Walking on the sidewalk turns into an opportunity to lose an eye as hundreds of umbrellas pass by on all sides. Nevertheless, it’s part of life in Japan, and an important part at that. The rains that fall at this time of year feed many crops across the country. Though the weather may cut off some opportunities for photography, it creates others, such as today’s photo. This is the famous Shibuya Crossing, as seen from the 25th floor of the Excel Tokyu Hotel. From way up there, the people look so tiny. The perfect view for some miniaturizing fun.
 A few weeks back my family and I headed over to Kasairinkaikoen with some friends to check out the aquarium they have there. I’ve been to this park before, but to be honest I wasn’t all that excited to go to the aquarium. Seeing as it was part of a park on the outskirts of Tokyo, I assumed it would be a run down kind of place. I was definitely wrong! Although not the most amazing aquarium I’ve been to, I was pleasantly surprised with how much there was to see. In fact, we didn’t get to see all of it because we ran out of time. Needless to say, I snapped quite a few shots as we walked around, but today’s photo was one of my favorites. This guy was sitting next to the window staring at the tuna swimming by, and it looked to me almost like a reverse story of the Little Mermaid – a man wishing to become a fish. In reality, he was probably just thinking “I bet that would make good sushi.”
 Sometimes coming up with interesting places to shoot can be a challenge. This weekend I wanted to go somewhere interesting to enjoy a little walk with my camera. I didn’t want someplace especially famous, just a normal calm neighborhood. As I was scouring Flickr, I came across some photos near Shimotakaido Station by Takahiro Yamamoto, a well known Google Plus photographer around Tokyo. His photos interested me so I decided to head over Saturday evening for some shooting. This photo was inspired by Yamamoto-san’s photo which you can see here. Perhaps I’ll share some others sometime in the future. Either way, I recommend going for walks like these if you’re in Tokyo and want to shoot something different than the normal famous locations. It’s a nice calm way to enjoy some time with your camera.
 One of the things that has always drawn me to Japan is the abundance of contrasts you can find in this country. It’s not only something you see visually, but something you experience in daily life; that is to say, in the cultural heritage that makes this country unique. In terms of contrasting sights, there are more obvious places like Asakusa where ancient temples sit in the shadow of skyscrapers, but you can also find these scenes all over the place on local streets. Today’s photo is an example of what I’m talking about. This was taken in Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture. I had been at a meeting in Hakone earlier in the day, and decided to pay a quick visit to the town on my way back home. As I was walking from the station down toward the ocean, I saw this – a new-looking vending machine sitting outside of what looked to be a rather old house. It may seem simple enough, but these are the kinds of scenes that describe Japan in my mind. Of course, drink machines are rampant in Japan – you can find one on almost every street you walk down. But to me that’s even more so why this image makes a good description of what it’s like to live in Japan. And by the way, some of the drinks aren’t half bad either.
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