Photography

It's always rainy in Kanazawa

… but that doesn’t make it any less pretty! The quaint port town on the Japanese Sea definitely has a lot of things to offer for a long weekend, regardless of the weather conditions. Most notably, Kanazawa is famous for its flawlessly preserved neighborhoods from the Edo era. Whether it’

Everyday Life

Sign of Life

I know, I know, it’s gotten a little quiet on my blog over the past couple of weeks. Lots of different things currently ongoing don’t leave much time for any creative output. I’ve started working on my master’s thesis, went through some personal changes, and work

Travel

72 Hours in Taipei

As Japan celebrated it’s annual ‘Coming of Age Day’ last Monday, we figured it would be worth spending the long weekend in Taiwan. A 3hr flight away from Tokyo, the island is a very popular holiday destinations for the Japanese; and with current temperatures around 20-25°C why not

Everyday Life

Looking back at six months in Japan

Happy new year to y’all following along with my updates here. I hope everyone had peaceful holidays and a fantastic start into 2020. Naturally, the beginning of a new year inspires one to look back and reflect on some of the things -good or bad- that happened in the

Culture

Kansai Region Wrap-up

Just got off of the night bus from Osaka this morning and although I’m bummed out that this concludes the Christmas travels for now, I couldn’t be more excited to finally start up Lightroom and edit the shots from the past week. For practicality and versatility reasons, I

Culture

Christmas in Kyoto

Unlike is common in Japan, I took the week of Christmas off for a brief vacation in the Kansai region. Never having been in this area before, I wanted to make sure to have enough time to visit Kyoto, Osaka, and also Nara – all of which are major cultural hubs.

Art

Visiting Königgalerie Tokyo

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a NY Times article by chance that reported renowned German gallerist Johann König would be setting up shop in Tokyo. Even better, the first exhibition would feature Jürgen Teller, one of my favorite photographers. Awesome! So after this place opened on Saturday, November

Everyday Life

Going on old-school holidays

As many film photographers, I usually refrain from experimenting with my film stock. Once you’ve found a favorite kind – in my case Kodak Portra for color and Ilford Delta for b/w shots – that’s usually what you gravitate towards again and again. You get a feeling for how

Photography

Tokyo in Black and White

Seems like winter is finally rolling around in Japan, as the temperatures were mostly in the single digits recently and are projected to fall below zero in the next few days. Luckily, I’ll be escaping to Munich from Tuesday to Friday, even though it’s just for work. Looking

Culture

Strolling through old Tokyo

Recently, one of my foreign friends recommended the Edo Tokyo Open Air Museum (not to be confused with the Edo Tokyo Museum in Sumida). Even though open air museums usually tend to be rather dull, he reassured me this would be worthwhile. Well, having been there the past weekend, I

Everyday Life

Tidying up Tama River

A while ago I wrote about typhoon No. 19, one of the strongest typhoons in recent Japanese history. Due to the heavy rainfalls throughout the whole Kanto region, the Tama River rose over 6 meters in certain areas, causing massive damage and leading to the evacuation of thousands that night.

Travel

Within the Sea of Trees

Right beneath Mount Fuji in Yamanashi prefecture lies one of Japan’s largest and densest forests: Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees. Its grounds were primarily shaped by vulcanic activity, leaving behind nutritious soil that is now home to an extremely rich ecosystem largely untouched. Besides its appearance

Travel

Fuji Gazing

This Sunday is Culture Day in Japan – an occasion on which the emperor traditionally grants special honors to people that have made extraordinary contributions to the country in some sort or fashion. I for one am not sure how one is supposed to commemorate Culture Day, but I do know

Art

Lots of Shawshank with little Redemption

Odaiba is certainly not my favorite part of town. A man-made island in Tokyo Bay, plastered with shopping malls, office buildings, and a fake Statue Liberty I would actually argue it is one of the last places you’d have to visit when coming to town. However, there’s still

Everyday Life

Japan recovers from Hagibis

Typhoon No. 19, a.k.a. Hagibis, was headed for Japan’s main island of Honshu this weekend and thus, messed up last week’s plans of going to Kyoto. Instead, I experienced hoarding for the first time: Already by Thursday evening, it was difficult to get hold of certain

Culture

O'zapft is!

O’zapft is – although not in Munich, but in Yokohama! Nowadays there’s an Oktoberfest in most major cites around the world and, of course, Japanese ones are no exception. I’ve never been to the original one, but this copy managed to deliver some key elements to actually feel

Photography

Norikura & Kamikochi - The scans got in

No major trips outside of Tokyo this weekend. Instead, I finally managed to get my bike operational again after having it shipped all the way from Germany. Technically, you’re also supposed to register it with any of the bike shops in town (same as you’d do with a

Travel

Emerald ponds and Crow Castle

Unsurprisingly, day two of our trip to the Japanese Alps wasn’t blessed by tremendous weather conditions either. However, the surrounding scenery in Kamikochi did not fail to make up for the cloudy sky. On arrival at the main tourist hub, one can choose from several different routes that all

Travel

Hiking at Mount Norikura

Supposedly, one of the most beautiful sceneries in all of Japan can be found at a place called Kamikochi in the middle of the Japanese Alps. Since it’s more than a three-hour ride from Tokyo, we decided to go for yet another long weekend trip and explore the surrounding

Everyday Life

Fishing for noodles

It’s been another long weekend in Japan and the summer is still going strong. Hence, we decided to attend a popular summertime event called Nagashi Somen or flowing noodles – a very instagram-able past time involving a cold-water bamboo slide, spaghetti-like noodles and you and your friends trying to get

Everyday Life

Shooting film with the Mamiya RZ67

Film photography has been a love of mine for a couple of years now, but it was only last year that I first got my hands on a medium format camera (referring to the size of the negative). Back then, I was living in Prague and picked up a Flexaret

Travel

Kamakura and Enoshima Island

To be perfectly honest, I do not enjoy planning my holidays, or even short weekend trips in full detail. If I’m traveling on my own, I usually end up strolling around aimlessly (which often makes for unexpected encounters – give it a try!). However, I realize it does pay off

Culture

Notes from Nikko

Last week saw Japan’s Obon festival, a time at which traditionally many people would take a short break to travel to their home town and honor the spirits of their ancestors. Alternatively, it’s a perfect occasion for a short summer holiday! The weekend before a friend and I

Everyday Life

Japan's cookie-cutter summer festivals

Japanese people looove food. They love it over everything – up to the point where you sometimes get annoyed over how dull conversations often end up being, because food is simply the main thing many people talk about. Nowhere does this become more apparent than at one of the abundant summer

Everyday Life

Lazy Sunday in Akihabara

The rain season finally seems to be over and the summer is here in Tokyo! And what do you do when the outside has more than 30°C and 90% humidity? You grab some of your colleagues and visit the arcade! The district of Akihabara will probably remain one of