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On paper, the Japanese economy is in the dumps, but from what I can tell, it's really cooking.
As I noted last month, I've been using my own feet as a mode of transportation lately. Having had errands near the corner of Kyoto's Sanjo and Karasuma streets a few times in the last week, I've made the almost-three-mile round-trip stroll down Sanjo Street at various times on various days, and have been astounded with how busy and vibrant everything is. Every shop seems full, every restaurant doing brisk business, every traffic light accompanied by a throng of shopping-bag-laden pedestrians waiting for the green.
To be fair, this was a three-day weekend (not because of Christmas, mind you, but because Friday was the emperor's birthday) and some of the area I walk through is a prime spot for domestic tourism (that is, for Japanese from other parts of Japan visiting Kyoto). Still, it was astounding how hopping things have been.
Two years ago I posted a shocking comparison of the Japanese vs. US economy during the last 20 years, describing how in those two decades the Japanese national stock index had shrunk to a mere third of what it had been, while during the same span the American stock index had quadrupled. Since I wrote that post, the American stock index has gone up 20%, but the Japanese down about 15%.
But with the economy in the dumps for so long, then the agony of the earthquakes earlier this year, I'm wondering whether people have simply had enough and have decided to rebel by enjoying themselves.
The strength of the Japanese yen makes the rest of the world relatively cheap to those who earn in yen, particularly when they're spending it in US dollars: spending in US dollars with Japanese yen five years ago cost 50% more than it does now! That's shocking (and, incidentally, really horrible for people like me spending US-dollar-based savings in Japan.) Yet even with that kind of incentive to spend abroad, Kyoto seems to be really hopping.
I don't know how it all fits together or what it all means, but it certainly seems to bode well.
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Impromptu Race
Last week Anthony got together with a friend, Kenny, for some play by Kyoto's Kamogawa river...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Low Water
The water level is about the lowest it ever gets (compare to almost flood level), which allowed the boys to climb down and throw rocks...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Down
Of course, the first thing on the agenda was throwing rocks, which all kids seem to love...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready to Rip
They were skipping stones and I joined in, and to my great surprise one throw skipped all the way across the water in a long arc (touching down a dozen or two times) with such velocity that it reached the other side, climbing up the opposite rock bank with a clatter not far from where a couple was sitting. I was mortified and gave the “so sorry!” sign, but they just applauded and gave a peace sign for the camera....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
“No Worries”
It's Okay That You Almost Maimed Us
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Split Level Parking
At one point a long river of birds came flowing over the bridge, dropped down to the deck just above the water, and flowed up toward the next bridge where they popped up an over. It was the most unexpected, breathtaking sight I've seen in a long time. The flow lasted for perhaps 20 seconds...
A bit later, they came back in the same way...
Really amazing.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Home
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 135mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
(The large version of this photo might be interesting... I'm not sure... but this small thumbnail certainly isn't.)
I went out to Fushimi Castle the other day with Paul Barr and Nicolas, a French/American guy I met briefly at Gion Matsuri at the start of the summer when he noticed my big lens and introduced himself. Busy schedules prevented us from getting together until last week when we made the short trip to south part of Kyoto to visit the Fushimi Castle.
It rained nonstop.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fushimi Castle
Kyoto, Japan
We spent quite a while under the protection of the main gate just chatting, and snapping occasional pictures, such as the kusaridoi rain gutter above. I can never remember the name “kusaridoi” without referring to this post. With the version above I was going a bit out on a limb, but just for safety also took a pedestrian straight-up version, though it would have been better with more rain:
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 135mm — 1/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
The castle was built 50 years ago as a tourist attraction, near the site of where a castle did stand in the late 1590s. The company running it apparently couldn't keep it going, so gave it to the city 10 years ago, so now it's a park.
It showed a lot of potential in the rain, and with its wealth of cherry trees I'm sure it's wonderful in the spring, but it was hard to feel inspired when you're getting soaked.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
As it turns out, the rain was a blessing because we were so miserable that we decided to bail on photography, and we went to a coffee shop and chatted for hours. Nicolas is a biologist dealing with DNA sequencing or the like. (My take-away from the conversation is that despite claims that the human genome has been mapped, in reality not a single strand of DNA has ever been sequenced... not one. Ever. But I digress.)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 102mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chatting in the Rain
deciding whether to bail on photography
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paul, Nicolas, Coke
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at 102mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
rain makes things
Awkward
Nicolas took a picture of me taking a picture of him, which only goes to show that not only do we both act silly, we both look silly.
We got together again yesterday (again with Paul Barr, on his last day in Kyoto this season, and Stéphane Barbery), but that's for another post.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weathersealing With Leaves
one more to go
I included a pretty bamboo-and-leaf photo on my previous post, even though it wasn't related to the post, just to have something pretty, but I tend to like to share stories/context instead of just photos, so this post fills in that gap for that photo.
Just outside the Ryoanji Temple is a path/sidewalk that leads to the nearby suburban sprawl, and along it was a nice little area lined by bamboo fences separating the pedestrians from a small area of leaf-covered grass. Here's a picture I happened to have snapped from the same location I took the bamboo/leaf photo:
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/1600 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
This Little Area
was, like most in the neighborhood, quite photogenic
You can see the same kind of bamboo fence on the opposite side of the path, and a fuzzy Paul Barr at left.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dangling By a Thread
The photo above is captioned literally: check out the largest desktop-background version, and you'll just be able to make out the wisp of spider web holding up the leaf.
In the background of these you can get a feeling for a solid bed of orange maple leaves, and that's exactly what it was. I put the camera on autofocus, reached straight out across the fence, aimed the camera blindly, and....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nature's Bed
would probably be fairly uncomfortable, and really noisy
Here's a similar shot as the one on the previous post, but now with the context established, a bit closer up....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Detail
Now, for something completely different...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Blustery Ball of Autumn
I tend to shy away from heavy post processing, though I've dabbled in it more and more lately, such as in “Impressionism in Lightroom” and its followup post, or this shot from a week ago, camo duck from March, or “Dabbling in Some Fine-Art Printing for My Office” from February.
Well, the big blustery shot above takes the cake, but the effect caught my eye while futzing around in Lightroom, so I spent a few minutes playing with it, and here we are. I like how it evokes (in me, at least) the sense that autumn gives way to winter. It was a really cold/blustery day when I took the shot, so maybe that colors my view.
Along the same heavy-processing lines, with this next one I tried to go for a plastic/fake look, almost as if the leaves were made out of some kind of candy. You can't necessarily see the effect in the thumbnail, but if you click through to the larger version, a certain fake feeling should become apparent...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Plasticy
I can't rightly tell you why I had a plastic look in mind, but there's a whole lot of crazy Lightroom develop settings that went into it.
And now for something really surprising: the previous two photos are identical except for the fake vignette applied in Lightroom, a heavy/tight white vignette in the first, and a slight/thin dark vignette in the second. Surprised? I was.
Back to reality, near the bamboo was a tuft of the susuki grass I like so much. I'd already gotten plenty of the grass earlier in the outing (such as this one seen the other day), so here I went a bit more on the artsy-fartsy side...
I would have liked a bit more contrast, but it's got an interesting mood.
A bit later, Paul moved to the grass, so I took another “context” shot...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Context
But it was hard to ignore the beauty... the light and the area were just gorgeous...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
They Really Were
glowing this vibrantly
But like I said on the first post from this outing, it was also really cold and I wasn't dressed well for it, so I was moving a bit faster than normal...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rushing to Catch Up
Sorry to make you rush, Paul.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bamboo Fenceposts in Autumn
near the Ryoanji Temple （龍安寺), Kyoto Japan
I was sort of amused to read “Stop Advertising in Photo Magazines – Head West to the Web” on Trey Ratcliff's “Stuck in Customs” photo-travel blog, about how his $30,000 ad buy in some photography magazines was a bust. What caught my attention was not that print is dying, but that here's a guy with a blog roughly as popular as mine doing $30,000 ad buys(!)
I recall once he mentioned his pageviews and remember that they were comparable to mine. In his recent article, though, he lists the number of blog photos served per day, which is not quite a metric I've ever thought about (and when he compares his numbers to a magazine's subscriber count, perhaps he should compare instead to the number of subscribers multiplied by the number of photos in each issue, but I digress). Anyway, the stats average out to about 160,000 photo-views per day, and I checked mine and found that it was about 120,000/day for the same period; not quite the same, but to the same order of magnitude.
Of course, one should take into account that I put a bazillion photos of suspect quality on most posts, and he puts only one, and that he actually sells a product (something about HDR, which I don't do), so maybe there's no real comparison to be made. And frankly, I don't do comparisons anyway because my goal is not to be bigger or better or something-else-er than someone else, or even to grow an audience. I just enjoy sharing, and if other people at times enjoy what I share, well, then I'm tickled pink.
At worst, I'll have all the articles to reread when I get old, to share with Anthony when he gets old enough, and God willing, to share with grandkids. And that's not a bad deal, if you ask me. But $30,000 ad buys!? Maybe I should turn this into a business?
It's clear that Trey enjoys what he does with his blog, so that's great for him, but I don't have a disposition that could enjoy this if I worried about metrics or cash flow or click-through rates, so I guess I'll continue to bumble forward with posts about things dear to my heart, mostly family, photography, and Kyoto.
And speaking of that, the photo above, taken at a bamboo fence along a path on the same outing as the other day's "A Cold, Wet, Photogenic Visit To The Ryoanji Temple, is unrelated to this post. I just think it's pretty.
(For more on that photo and where it was taken, see this followup post)