japan on film

Kyoto, Japan | Dec 2016.

I got my first Fujifilm Quicksnap 400 disposable camera at ¥1000 one night somewhere near Yasaka-jinja, and the ojisan was nice enough to take us a photo to demonstrate how the flash works. (I'm not a flash person so I used it little and ended up wasting quite a few shots) 

It took me long enough to finish the roll and develop it, but the moment of seeing the images after waiting was exciting. It was a great experience, to be honest. Film is fun to shoot with, but I wouldn't see myself doing this in a long run. However, I definitely wish to shoot a roll each time I visit a new place.

interesting strangers / kyoto

A new project : shining new light to ways of looking at my old travel photos.

I hoped I could be more courageous in shooting strangers - they represent an unimagined real life in where they were shot and they are practically what that brought my travel experiences into life. Kyoto is super touristy, but I was glad to be able to photograph these hardworking people.

goodbye kyoto

Kamogawa was one of the fixed-point observation (定点観測) spots of a photographer I follow on Instagram, and she made me fell in love with this river with her daily posts of this place. It was one of the reasons for me to pick this airbnb located on Shijo-dori and I never got tired crossing the bridge on many nights. On the last day in Kyoto, I finally got to get on the bridge under the daylight and there goes my shutter.

I lied, our final stop in Kyoto was actually the revisited Nishiki Market. I just can't leave without that strawberries... 

Not even a Buddhist but I've been doing this at almost every temple/shrine as a symbol of respect. 

Shirako! We tried it in one of our very first meals and wow they aren't cheap.

Coming back to the market got us grabbing some last-minute souvenirs like konpeitō, ponzu and traditional cakes. The market offered way more snacks than we could try so we only got a few including: octopus head stuffed with quail egg, tamagoyaki and tempura. Saba sushi was one of the Kyoto specialties but we decided to give it a pass (even thought of exporting it back home lol) 

These were the very last shots I had in Kyoto. I was surprised to find no photos on our way back to Malaysia in my camera -but it was okay. The trip itself was a dream came true, and I hope I get to pay another visit to Japan in summer... Hoped you all enjoyed the photos!

tunnels of torii

Our final stop of Kyoto was Fushimi Inari-taisha. I frankly knew nothing about this temple except learning about it from the Memoirs of Geisha. My first visit to Kyoto in 2008 did not leave me any impression of this gorgeous spot so I'd call this my first visit. The thousand torii gates of my dreams...

As the regular check-out hours in Japan tends to be around 10 a.m., we had to leave for Fushimi as early as 7 a.m. to avoid crowd aas well as to get back on time. 

Being greeted by Komatsu Nana in the morning ain't too bad, and I've been trying hard to capture the diligent conductors turning their heads upon every departure /salutes

Fushimi is a quiet little town early in the morning with vendors setting up their stalls along the streets. We lucked out on the weather this time; it remained gloomy after last night's drizzle which gave the brightly-colored shrine an extra boost of contrast against the dark clouds.

I don't intend to bore you with a lot of photos of similar subject; but there simply is no way to avoid the shiny toriis when shooting in a shrine famous for its abundance in toriis. I was kinda upset that the colors didn't turn out really gorgeous in my hands -hence the black and whites. A really interesting place to challenge your patience for a humanless photo. I gave up real quick and asked my sister to block every stranger in sight.

Aren't they just the most adorable kazoku ever? The ojiisan was really nice and allowed me to have a shot of the puppies (well we basically hiked the same path)

I didn't know foxes act as the messengers before reading up Wikipedia; but I have always liked them in the anime/games I watched/played. People have been really creative with the emas and it was really fun just looking at them.

It was my first time realizing that the male counterparts of mikos (shrine maidens) wear green instead of red; how interesting!

Exiting the shrine we found ourselves back at the street filled with stalls. This funny uncle was selling something we've never seen (meat-wrapped onigiri) so we got one with grilled cheese topping before continuing our journey back to Shijo. 

Crossing our second railway was another moment worth remembering. I guess I became a railway enthusiast after watching Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and started obsessing over the signs and tracks and trains. It was like an anime came true: too good to be real.

Fushimi station was surprisingly nicely decorated (how could I not notice upon arrival!?) with kitsune and hiragana decor with eye-popping red pillars. I knew I'm in big trouble if I live in Japan -just imagine how many train stations I have to shoot?

Goodbye Fushimi, time to head back.