Today in Tokyo we head to the graves of the 47 Ronin, check out the super colourful and serene Art Aquarium in Ginza, and I shoot with a couple of local models around Akihabara while the others go off to Go-Karting around the city!
I had Sunday down as photoshoot day well in advance. I didn't want to travel to Japan and not do what is my main love with a camera, aka portraiture. Not only that, but I had also highlighted the Art Aquarium before travelling as something I wanted to do, and I figured I could squeeze it in before as I knew we were looking at an afternoon heading in to dark for the shoot given we could then catch some of the neon lights. Now I'm not sure if you've ever tried to organise a collaboration shoot in your own country, hell in your local area even, but you're relying on the willingness of the other participant(s), and that can be a lottery at the best of times. Do that for a different country which is a 14-hour plane journey away and speaks probably the polar opposite of the English language in terms of grammar etc, while also not wanting to miss out on the opportunity but being flexible with the variables of people being people and having their own lives to attend to, and plans may change!
I had already organised two models, and one pulled out because she had a last minute job in New York, apparently, but I was confident in Nami because we'd communicated plenty beforehand and her English was on point. However, while I was already in Japan, Katy popped up in the same collaboration group that I found Nami in, and I asked her if she wanted to join us too, and she agreed. It was always my plan to do two separate shoots with a small crossover period for some duo images in the middle, not least because if one model did a no show, at least then I'd have another shoot to fall back on. In the end it was Nami who couldn't do quite as early as originally intended because she got called in to work, so I shot some stuff with Katy for an hour beforehand, and then later Nami joined us. This meant the day could start later than originally intended too, which after all this waffle, brings me to the point I was setting up!
Marc fancied seeing the graves of the 47 Ronin, and I now had plenty of time to squeeze it in before the shoot and the Art Aquarium, and thus, we start the day heading to Sengaku-ji Temple.
If you're not familiar with the history of the 47 Ronin, you can check it out on wiki here.
While visiting the Sengaku-ji Temple site is free, there's also a small museum on site that you can pay in to, and equally, to gain access to the graves, you pay a small fee too but are given incense to burn and distribute amongst them as an offering. There are some lovely pieces in the museum, but as always in Japan, museums are typically off limits for photography, but they're fine with images being shot amongst the graves. There's also someone on hand to talk you through some of the history. When we went, and despite it being a weekend and a really famous part of Japanese history, it was also really quiet, but maybe that was in part due to us being there before midday? Either way, it was a relaxing visit, and the owners of the small stall type shops on the way out were really personable and great to chat to. I quite enjoyed the trinkets they had on offer, and of course bought a few souvenirs.
Next up we head to Ginza to check out the Art Aquarium, and it's where I soon part with the rest of the guys so they can go karting as I don't have a driving licence.. but nor do they shoot portraiture, which is why we married these two events together to fall at the same time. For those that are interested, for the Go Karting you need an international driving licence, which I gather is reasonably cheap and easy to acquire if you have a domestic one, certainly in the UK at least. There are plenty of options for karting on the Tokyo streets, even after a legal battle from it originally being a Mario Kart cross over inspired by the Nintendo game, but of course Nintendo didn't look fondly on that, so while you may see people driving around in Nintendo fancy dress, they either bought it themselves or it's not Mario related. Some locals do find it a nuisance too, so let your morals guide you as to whether it's for you or not.
Anyways, back to the Art Aquarium which is in on about the 8/9th floor of a building (don't quote me on the exact floor), and I duno about you, but not being a city guy, I don't expect to find aquariums and museums several floors up and above department stores - that doesn't quite compute with me. What computes less is that the escalators only go up about a floor or two below, so you're left scratching your head about how you get in. If it wasn't that we could see a sign for the exit, we would have been sure we were in the wrong place. After asking, we're pointed in the direction of two elevators which take you up the next floors and are separate from the elevators and escalators up thus far, and they're rammed, slow, and take a while to get in and find a spot - Japanese politeness goes out the window a little here.
I think this sets a tone for the others who are neither here nor there about going really, as when we do get in, the place is rammed too. It's far busier than I was expecting and assumed it might be from pictures, and nor did I really see people talk about it on forums, so I figured it may be a less popular attraction, but again this could be down to it being a weekend too. The guys zoomed through it and were out and saying their goodbyes via Facebook Messenger before I made it to the second room. Despite the crowds, which would thin out a little if you took your time, I found it serene and enjoyed all the colour visuals and watery sounds. They marry light with bespoke tank shapes and integrate some flowers and art too. On the way out, they also champion some artists with a small exhibition, while in the gift shop you can buy some of their merch alongside the Aquarium gifts, so I bought some funky acetate posters (seems to be a popular thing in Japan) of some of the featured work before braving the Tokyo metro by myself back to Akiharaba - it was an easy straight forward journey to be fair.
After a quick freshen up from the sheer Japanese heat which is still in it's 30's before accounting for humidity, it's time to meet Katy and to start shooting, before we're shortly joined by Nami. I've already covered the shoot and how I went about finding models on the other side of the world on my studio photography blog which I've just reuploaded to my new site hosts, so rather than going into detail here given most of you may be in to travel more so than photography, and certainly more so than portrait photography, then you can see part one here and part two here should you fancy it - yeah, there are two parts because I waffle and rant about Meta's algorithms and social media in general.
I'll post a pictorial of the images I shot with the girls all the same at the bottom of this here blog, and I'll ram in a couple of paragraphs from the second of those blogs as it reflects more upon eating and Japanese culture: "At this point, and given we're doing it in a chill way, we decide to head to get some food together. Katy fancied an Indian, so we find somewhere on Google. In the UK, if you're a shop not on the main street, the chances of you getting random customer footfall is tiny unless your advertising game is on point, and therefore your reputation is probably strong too. In Japan, they have these random shops and restaurants, with barely any signage, seven floors up in an unassuming building that you'd walk past without a second thought as a Brit, while just assuming it was some sort of office space and not for the public. This was kinda one of them.
After food, we have a quick look around to see if there's anywhere that jumps out at us, and that's when we find the quiet side road with the Kana on the floor.. again another slice of Asian narrative, and then that pretty much a wrap. It was approaching 9pm, Katy had work in the morning, and Nami probably went out on the piss! She still hasn't reported back to me on whether the Welsh nugget bar was epic or not. I also gave her a VIlla shirt that she's probably binned due to a lack of interest in football, or maybe lost on the night out, lol. Japan is not a tipping culture, so I bought some gifts over from the UK for people we met as we went, and of course having spent the most time talking to Nami prior, I figured I'd inflict some typically British stuff on her, like seaside snacks and football."
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