S and I went to Zojoji Temple for the 2011 New Year Countdown. I have more pictures and comments that I’ll upload eventually, but for now here is a clip of the 5 minutes leading up to the countdown.
Happy New Year everyone!
S and I went to Zojoji Temple for the 2011 New Year Countdown. I have more pictures and comments that I’ll upload eventually, but for now here is a clip of the 5 minutes leading up to the countdown.
Happy New Year everyone!
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Just wanted to share a few Christmas pictures, and thought I’d put them in my blog instead of the photography section. This year I finally bought a small Christmas tree (on the left) – it’s the first I’ve had since moving into my apartment (almost 2 years now)! I’m surprised how cheery it makes the place look.I didn’t do much for Christmas this year in terms of food. Last year I went all out with a roast chicken, tons of stuffing, potatoes, soup, and desserts, but this year… it’s just been too busy and I didn’t have the energy to spend all day cooking. Plus, thanks to S, I’ve been trying to eat a little more healthily these past couple of months by trying out a different kind of “cuisine”. More on that in a later post, but for now, here are some pictures of dinner – simple grilled fish, mashed potatoes, hambone soup, and salad – that’s it!
Despite the simplicity, it was very good, and I didn’t even have that belt-busting feeling I usually get after a holiday dinner. Dessert was especially healthy – I know it may not look like it, but NONE of the desserts in the picture were baked or cooked in any way – it was all-natural “raw” ingredients!
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It’s been a while yet again since my last post, for the usual reason (work). I have a few posts lined up; I just need the time to write them out (and sort through pictures)…
This morning though, I managed to get up (sort of) early to go to the annual Run for the Cure event. I’ve attended each one for the last 3 years and participated in the 10k runs the last 2 years. This year, since it’s been so long since I’ve run, I just walked 1 lap (5k) and shot pictures along the way. Those pictures will be uploaded later after I’ve had a chance to sift through them (took nearly 400 pictures >_<;)
After the run, there were a couple of events, one of which was a series of very cool taiko performances by the Tawoo group. A couple of the members of the group were survivors of breast cancer themselves, and it was amazing to see the amount of energy they had.
I recorded 2 of the performances, both of which I’ve uploaded to Youtube. Unfortunately, the recordings are nowhere near as impressive as watching the performances live, but hopefully one can get a sense of their spirit and energy.
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I know I’m behind on the picture challenges, but I’ve decided to postpone it until brother J3 has finished one of his uni projects and is able to send a submission as well. In the meantime, I’ve added another gallery to the photo section!
These are pictures taken last weekend, during the annual FIT for Charity run in Tokyo. I had originally signed up to participate as a runner, but as I was still getting over the bug I picked up in HK I went along with Josh to provide moral support – and take pictures.
I’ve picked up a lot of photography tips from Josh during his stay here (one of which has given me an idea for the next challenge) and on this day I had the opportunity to work with natural lighting. It’s really cool how sun+clouds make for a fantastic natural diffuser. Between the two of us, we shot over 1,200 pictures that day alone.
I’ve uploaded the FIT 2010 pictures to the usual shashin.njmatsuya.com. I know some pictures may seem a little dark, but I didn’t have time to go through and lighten anything – all pictures are straight out of the camera, only resized. Also, I’ve noticed that monitor quality makes a huge difference – on my glossy laptop screen all pictures seem well-lit, but on one of the older monitors I use at work, most of my pictures seem pretty dark.
I’ve taken pictures at each FIT event since 2008, and I’m pretty happy with how these turned out!
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As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been traveling for work-related duties to Singapore and Hong Kong for the last two and a half weeks in October. It was an extremely busy period of time (typically 12 hour work days and no weekends off) and I ended up getting hit by a particularly tenacious bug that’s still keeping me coughing over a week later.
Given the long hours I worked, I didn’t take any daytime pictures, but when I could I went out for some night shots. Both Singapore and Hong Kong are very different culturally compared to Japan, and initially it took some getting used to, but in the end I felt quite comfortable getting around. I have better memories of Singapore since Hong Kong was where I got sick. 😛
I’ll be posting pictures I took over time, starting with this series of shots taken of Little India, in Singapore.
Since it was late I didn’t get a chance to wander around too much that neighborhood, but my initial reaction when exiting the MRT (Singapore’s equivalent to the Tokyo Metro) was surprise – the place was *crowded* with people, and 99% of them were all men. I don’t know if there aren’t that many Indian women in Singapore, or if they simply don’t venture out much at night, but it was just a little odd to see crowds of men and no women at all (save in some restaurants).
Little India had some pretty street illuminations going, in preparation for the Deepavali festival. I also tried some very good fish head curry at a restaurant called Apollo’s (it looks really spicy in the pictures but it’s actually not that hot).
The image above is one that has been adjusted, but all the untouched pictures (including the original of the one above, which exhibited some bad lens distortion) are at the usual shashin.njmatsuya.com .
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As mentioned in my previous post, I’d gone to see a friend perform in his first recital this week. There were about 12 performers in total, each with varying levels of skill, and I tried to take all their pictures at least once. To be honest, I’m rather disappointed in how the pictures turned out… low light + handheld situations is not something I’m very good at yet. Practice, practice, practice I guess…
Otherwise, the show was quite nice. It was peaceful, with an audience consisting mostly of family members and friends of the performers.
All pictures are uploaded to my photo section, http://shashin.njmatsuya.com .
JIH mailed me last week about a fireworks display at Futagotamagawa – though S and I weren’t able to meet up with the rest of the group (we got there a little later than expected) we managed to snag a decent spot and I shot a “few” (more like 200) pictures of the show. I’ve whittled the number down to a more manageable 87 pictures, which I’ve uploaded to shashin.njmatsuya.com (I’ve decided to have a separate section of the site specifically for photos from now on).
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The show was spectacular – I think it’s the best I’ve ever seen! I especially liked that they included music at the end, which really added to the overall “wonder” of everything. I don’t know how many people were at the show, but I think it’s safe to say we numbered in the multiple thousands. Surprisingly enough (or not, as this is Japan after all), everything was very organized despite the huge crowds, with police “herding” groups of people in alternating batches at the end to avoid a massive crowd crushing stampede to the trains.
The weather also cooperated perfectly, with just enough of a slight breeze to take the edge off the humidity.
Overall, it was a great show/evening. 🙂
Again, for more pictures of the show, please go to http://shashin.njmatsuya.com !