I went out late last night to try a few nighttime long exposures of some cherry blossoms. This was my second attempt at long-exposure shots, the first having been a year ago with some long nighttime shots of the river that runs beside our place. This time I had my Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 (rather than the Nikkor 18-200VR), and also a remote-shutter release with a timer, so I could make exposures longer than the camera's 30-second limit.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 32 sec, f/10, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +2.31EV — full exif & map — nearby photos
Kyoto Biwako Canal by Night
The image above is a 32-second exposure, boosted a further 2.31EV during post processing in Adobe Lightroom (meaning that it's equivalent to an un-boosted exposure of about 2 minutes 38 seconds). In reality, it was extremely dark and to my eyes everything on the left side of the image was mostly just a dim silhouette.
In comparison, here's a picture taken during the day with my point-n-shoot two years ago.
The image above is taken at spot where the canal turns 90 degrees (it runs off to the left in this image). So turning left myself and following the canal for a few yards, I took this 30-second exposure....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 30 sec, f/10, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +0.27EV — full exif & map
Resting for the Night
The sign on the fence says “don't park your bicycle or scooter here.”
Looking out over the water with a 70-second exposure....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 70 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blossoms Snoozing for the Night
Continuing parallel to the canal, I took this 29-second (69-second equivalent) picture looking back toward where I'd just come from. Where it looks like the water dead-ends in the background is where it turns 90 degrees, and is the spot where the first shot above was taken. (The “map” link under each photo details its location.)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 29 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +1.16EV — map & image data — nearby photos
I applied to renew my visa to stay in Japan, today. That means that we've been here almost three years now, which on top of the 8 years I spent when I was just out of college, adds up to making me feel old. 🙂
What a difference it is dealing with Japan's version of the INS compared with the American version (now called something I can never remember and thankfully, no longer need to).
When applying for Fumie's green card in 1998-1999 in San Jose, California, we had to go to the INS office numerous times, and it was hell. You're always guaranteed an extremely long wait: if you arrive at 3am hoping to be first in line for the morning opening, you'll be sorely surprised at the length the line has already reached. You could arrive just when they open, only to wait hours in the line outside to find that they won't accept anyone else for the day, and be sent home never having even stepped inside. (I hear now that there's an online reservation system, which hopefully makes at least that aspect smoother.)
The worst part, though, was that every single member of the staff at the INS office would treat you like cattle, but without the respect one normally affords cattle. In every way, their treatment was dehumanizing, degrading, and demoralizing (which was perhaps their intent). It made me sick and embarrassed to be American, and worse, this was my new wife's introduction to my country. I can imagine it's only worse now, post-9/11.
Contrast this with my trip to the Japanese immigration office to apply for an extension of my visa....
I prepared the paperwork yesterday:
- My passport.
- My proof of alien registration card.
- The renewal application form.
- Fumie's koseki (“family registry,” as described in the previous post).
- Our juuminhyou (registry of address).
- Copies of our tax records.
- A letter of guarantee stating that Fumie, a Japanese citizen, would be responsible for any of my alien misdeeds should I do something bad and skip the country.
I also prepared a few things in case they might be required...
- My bankbook, and a photocopy of the non-blank pages.
- Our original certificate of marriage from San Jose, California.
- Our most recent brokerage statement (which represents our savings and the source of our funding, since I haven't really been working for the last couple of years).
- My and Fumie's inkan (personal/family seals).
- Our family certificate for the National Health Insurance.
(This might seem like a lot, but other than the long drive to pick up Fumie's koseki, it didn't take long at all to put together)
So, this morning I made the 5-minute bike ride to the immigration office, and arrived 15 minutes after they opened. There were perhaps half a dozen people siting around waiting, and one person in line at the reception counter. I dutifully waited about 30 seconds for my turn, submitted my paperwork, got a number, and sat down.
Five minutes later, my number was called. The lady had a question about the application form. It turns out that I'd answered a question incorrectly because I made a mistake in reading the Japanese. Once that was fixed, she had a question about where we registered our marriage. This question, too, might be due to a Japanese mistake on my part. I'd noted on the form that we'd registered it both in America (in Santa Clara County, California, where we got married), and later in Japan, when Fumie moved from her Dad's family registry to her own, and I was noted as being her husband. I'm wondering now whether the kind of “marriage registration” referenced on the immigration form is different from the simple act of including me as her spouse in her family registry. I dunno.
The lady made a photocopy of our US marriage certificate, and took the photocopies of my bankbook (after confirming that they were indeed identical to the original), had me fill out my address on a “your application has been processed” postcard, and I was done. In and out in less than 15 minutes.
I'll hear the results in about two weeks. I fully expect it to be approved, but I'm curious whether they'll give me the 5-year extension that I asked for, rather than the 3-year extension that is probably standard for a case like mine. I asked for the longer one because, well, it doesn't hurt to ask..... (I hope).
UPDATE: I got the 3-year extension.
As part of the process of renewing my visa to stay in Japan, I had to make an unplanned trip to Hirakata City Hall (about an hour's drive south) to pick up a copy of Fumie's koseki (family registry). On the way back, I came across the Yodogawa Kasen Koen, the Yodogawa River “Rivers Park” in Yawata City (Kyoto Prefecture), a mile-long raised berm in the middle of where three rivers join to create the Yodogawa River (which empties into Osaka Bay twenty miles later, a good mile in width by that point).
The park — the mile-long raised berm — is lined with hundreds of cherry trees along its entire length, making it a most pleasant place for a stroll.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/500 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yodogawa River “Rivers Park”
Photographically speaking, it wasn't a great day (it was exceptionally hazy, and the blossoms were just getting started), but it was short-sleeves warm, people were polite and relatively few, the air was not filled with alcohol, smoke, and drunken obnoxious laughter, there was no garbage, and overall, it was generally just really pleasant.
(Viewing the map link under any picture, you'll see the satellite photo of where it was taken, but you won't see the path on the raised berm because it's completely obscured by the trees.)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
North Bank of the Berm
The north bank was pretty much as you see it above. It went like that for most of the mile.
On the south bank, people enjoyed hanami (cherry-blossom-viewing picnics)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/160 sec, f/11, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hanami on the South Bank
In some of the shots above it might seem as if the blossoms are filling out, but they're just getting going, as the branch in the next picture is typical of the current status of these trees.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 38mm — 1/640 sec, f/8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
One out of 18 (so far)
These trees were transplanted here from Tokyo, sometime during the Edo period (from 1603 to about 1867), so they're at least 150 years old, and perhaps much older.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hanami
When I first ventured down the path, I had no idea what it was nor how long it was. One of the first things I found was a semi-permanent toilet and some unsightly signs nestled under the blossoms.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 23mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
When this was the first thing I saw, I rolled my eyes, thinking that it was going to be a typically ugly cherry-blossom-viewing scene, filled with smoke, garbage, gaudy stands selling crap, and lots and lots of loud, drunk people. To my great surprise and greater appreciation, it turned out to be wonderful and, well, really pleasant.
The little path by the river next to my place is not heavily traveled, although foot traffic explodes in this whole area during cherry-blossom season, and so these days a fair number of people walk by. In particular, it doesn't hurt that some the cherry trees lining the river are already half in bloom — the ones lining the canal will be much nicer, but they haven't yet come in. (Here's an old photo of the canal lined with cherry trees, where the canal runs in front of our place.)
Because I'm always behind the camera, I don't see how silly I look always running around taking pictures, so I thought I'd take some pictures of other people doing that. I spent a few minutes at my dining-room window taking pictures of people taking pictures. These were all taken within a 5-minute period....
This is what they were all photographing....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — full exif
Bloom perhaps 50% full...
The dinner party I went to yesterday was right in the middle of Gion, Kyoto's traditional area for maiko and geisha.
We ate at a simple okonomiyaki restaurant on the Shirakawa river (the river that runs next to my place, but a kilometer downstream), just off a street whose name translates, literally, to “Cherry-Blossom-Viewing Lane”. The immediate area has a lot of traditional architecture, cobblestone streets, and the river overhung with cherry trees just starting to blossom, so you can imagine the photographic potential.
So can everyone else, which is why I was surprised that it wasn't super crowded. I'm sure that'll change next week as the blossoms really start to come in.
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4— 1/60 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shirakawa River, in the Gion area of Kyoto
The picture above is from one end of a bridge going over the river, and is pretty much what you see when you step out of the restaurant. The trees along the right are mostly-bare cherry trees, with some spatterings of blossoms.
Moving to the right, over the bridge I was standing on, and the trees that had been on the right are on the left, with the milling crowds now on the right.....
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/90 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
South Shirakawa Street, in Gion
Heading down the street a bit brings us to this tree in the front garden of a restaurant...
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mostly-Empty “Shidarezakura” Tree
The tree is nicely lit up, but still without blossoms. It's of the “shidarezakura” variety, which is essentially a cherry tree like a weeping willow.
Across the street again, and down a bit further, one of the trees overhanging the river has some blossoms, and an ever-changing throng of people snapping pictures of it.
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
At this point, any blossoms are photographed blossoms
It actually doesn't look too bad in the picture above, but you have to realize that a cherry tree with only a few blossoms is like a moulting dog losing its hair to some sickness. The few rough tufts of hair give no hint of the big shaggy dog that was, and perhaps look worse than a bald dog. I have no doubt that by next week the tree will be spectacular and awe-inspiring in the original sense of the word, but at this point it's not much to look at.
Here's a closeup, looking to one of the restaurants lining the other side of the river.
Even with ISO at 640 and f/1.4, it was still a 1/40th second shot, and so it's not very sharp. Of course, I should have had a tripod if I wanted a clear shot, but I didn't have one with me.