I left Japan almost a year and a half ago and of course I miss a couple of things here and there — Hakata Ippudo ramen, snowboarding, Amazon, Rakuten, sakura during spring, ginkgo trees in autumn, Shinjuku, Showa Kinen Park, Nagayama, kafunsho (NOT) — okay, maybe not just a couple of things.

But for street photography, there’s really just something about the trains and train stations there that make me want to come back again.

As I recall, that's the very last time we saw each other.
Taken in 2011 while I was on my way to Showa Kinen for some sort of flower festival, this was the photo that convinced me to take an interest in Street Photography.

I did come back, for my second business trip to the freezing prefecture of Nagano, and although I wasn’t able to really take advantage of the opportunity to shoot — I blame the never-ending workday and allergies BTW — I managed to churn out a few.

Shinjuku South Gate
But first, a little selfie wouldn’t hurt, would it? Here’s me taking a shot outside Shinjuku’s South Gate, while taking a breath and congratulating myself for finding a locker huge enough to stuff my luggage in. Yay.

Anyway, without further ado …

Split Personality
Split Personality – A kid looking out of the train door while two men behind him seem to be split from the same source.

Matsumoto Station, Platform 4
Matsumoto Station, Platform 4

→ 3←
→3←

In Time
In Time

田沢
田沢駅ホム – Tazawa Station Platform

Early Morning Shadowplay
Early Morning Shadowplay at Matsumoto Station

2041.2
Shot with an iPhone 4S while shivering away on Platform No. 3 of Matsumoto Station.

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Salary Man + Kafunsho

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Nine

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Six

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White Paper

Peek-A-Boo
Peek-A-Boo. A very rare colored shot from me. Bonus points if you managed to point me out from all the silhouettes on the windows.

Way too few IMHO but maybe I’ll find time to go to Japan next time for holiday or something. It’s way too stressful trying to juggle work, street photography, and self-preservation (gads damn it allergies, go away) and it results in too few shots and therefore the final selection is not that, well, selective. Anyway, I’ll stop with the excuses and hope that I manage to go out here in Singapore and find some interesting things to shoot again. I’ve been cooped up way too long.