2025-02: Japan

For a long time, I’ve wanted to go to Japan. I’m a big fan of manga (did you know that Viz publishes Shonen Jump Weekly in English every week? I read the whole thing!) & anime, their aesthetic & their food, just yeah seemed like a cool place. One day, I made an offhand comment about it to my roommate, and we somehow ended up planning a whole 2-week thing, centered around hiking the Kumano Kodo, with plenty of time in Tokyo too. And then we made it happen!

Most of the trip photos I took were quite tourist-y, but I still had a good selection to choose from when compiling these. Hope you enjoy!

Hongu Grand Shine Walkway

Golden-green pine trees & hundreds of white banners flank a long cobblestone path draped in dappled sunlight.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, 24mm. Talking with a friend who lives in Japan, we found out later that these banners are likely advertising an upcoming Setsubun festival.

Site of an Old Teahouse

Through a moderately dense thicket of trees, a clearing containing a single small pavilion can be seen.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.0, 1/800 @ 400 ISO. Taking photos on the Kumano Kodo, in the shade & with that low winter sun, was a bit tricky. This one turned out the best I think, tho in the future I should really push the ISO more.

God Rays Over The Mountain

Rays of sunlight peek over the mountain and are scattered by small low-lying cumulus clouds, slowly warming up the lightly-frosted pine trees.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, 24mm. There was some sort of persistent haze over the mountains that I could never figure out what was made of, but it sure made for some pretty nice views when the sun just barely peeked over the peaks.

Crystal-Clear River

The shadow of a bridge is visible among the rocks & sand at the bottom of a shallow stream, the water colored a beautiful shade of cyan. The wind forms small ripples that only barely disturb the surface, refracting the late afternoon sun in soothing patterns.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, 24mm. The rural towns we stopped in along our way on the Kumano Kodo were all so beautiful, nestled along the riverbeds surrounded by mountains. Our lodging was mostly guest houses ran by the owners directly, with a few hotels at the more popular start + end.

River & Bridge

Left: Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.8, 1/800 @ 400 ISO. Right: f2.0, 1/6400 @ 200 ISO. At one rest stop area, a Black kite (hawk-like bird) started circling really close to us, but unfortunately had started to go further away by the time I pulled out my Canon. I took these (& other) photos in the next hour while waiting for it to come back around (it never did).

Gutter & Train

Left: Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.0, 1/4000 @ 200 ISO. Taken in Nara park. Right: 1/5000 @ 250 ISO. Taken overlooking the trains coming out from Ueno Station. I thought the parallels here were neat, especially when juxtaposed with the previous parallels.

信徒会館

A white-yellow-brown-gray shrine building with three levels of balconies overlooks some hazy mountains.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.0, 1/640 @ 200 ISO. This building is part of the Kumano Nachi Taisha complex. I couldn't find much good information about it in English, Google says the name roughly translates as "Congregation hall", pronounced as "Shinto Kaikan".

Nara Deer Up Close

A deer tilts its head to its right, looking at something beyond the viewer. Its neck and body form a golden-ratio-esque spiral that fills the frame.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f14, 1/1000 @ 1000 ISO. The deer in Nara park really live up to the hype! They will do literally anything if it means they can have Shika Sembei (deer crackers), from bowing their head to headbutting you to nibbling on your jacket to just gathering around you really quickly. So quirky... I found them adorable because despite some misbehavior, overall they were very calm & able to get along well with humans. And there were so many!!

Nara Deer From Further Away

Two women read a sign outside a large bell inside a paviliion complete with a suspended wooden ringer. Two deer mingle outside in the courtyard, next to a small white car they presumably drove here in.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.0, 1/2500 @ 200 ISO. Nara park has a pretty good set of shrine complexes, and of course the deer wander around there too. Also can I mention: I love how small & boxy Japanese cars are, with their thin little wheels b/c they're so light!

Kyoto Station From Kyoto Tower

A long series of impossibly-connected buildings separates a glass canopy from rows of houses & apartments in the background.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f4.0, 1/800 @ 400 ISO. We went up Kyoto tower on a whim, and oh wow was it worth it. Really great views of the city, and not crowded at all! Kyoto station is beautiful too btw. On the other hand, we heard Tokyo Tower & the Skytree were effectively scams by comparison, so we avoided those in favor of seeing everything by foot there.

Temple & Stairway

Left: Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.5, 1/1600 @ 250 ISO. This is the Sensō-ji Five-Storied Pagoda, which I thought I could juxtapose against the Skytree but the angles just didn't work out whoops. The Sensō-ji marketplaces & Kappabashi street right nearby were a real treat to see, regardless. Right: f5, 1/2500 @ 160 ISO. This is back by Ueno station again. I also thought these looked good juxtaposed, this is the last pairing :)

Kyoto Station

Multiple sets of train tracks snake dizzily out into a thicket of wires & girders. Yellow safety bumps & overhead flourescent lighting follow them until the platform ends. Bright splotches of red provided by emergency signs and train signals are scattered throughout the scene.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, 120mm. I took this after arriving from the day trip to Nara. The train we took, あをによし (Aoniyoshi), was a sightseeing train, with plush seats and massive windows. Japan's trains & railways are so cool, man. Both the bullet train (Shinkansen) & the Kyoto railway museum are excellent too, but unforuntately all those photos I took of those were touristy :(

Infrastructure

Black stairs and a rusted previously-white railway lead up to a black-and-yellow railway over some asphalt-dirtied concrete. The majority of the scene is taken up by various pipes & wiring below some slightly rusted metal siding, all in the shadow of some soft sunlight.
Canon EOS 5DS, 135mm f2.0, 1/2500 @ 250 ISO. From the bridge overlooking Ueno station again. Yes, I really liked that spot, I love how all the infrastructure there was just exposed & so readily accessible (lighting was great then too). Really reminds me of my favorite anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion—*ducks thrown tomato*

Pretty Lights

Strands of red-ping fairy lights are suspended from the ceiling in neat rows, forming further lines & intersections at all the different vanishing points. Some people & sensors can be seen in the mirrored ceiling's reflection.
iPhone 16 Pro Max, 24mm. This was inside Teamlab Planets Tokyo. When it says "immersive large-scale artworks that will capture all your senses", they really mean it. They love their infinity mirror gimmick, but it works so well and honestly I was completely transported. I highly recommend you go if you can, pictures don't do it justice in the slightest.

In short, I had a blast on this trip, and can’t wait to go back in the future. We saw so many things, but didn’t see nearly everything, and plus, that food… I gotta eat more sushi…