Oooosaka
First off, There hasn't been much time since I've been shooting, so keep in mind that these journals are very raw.

I have to say, Japan has to be one of the coolest countries that I’ve been to. I’m really not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because people are so nice to you on just a street level. They’re nice to you and you don’t feel like they want something from you. Very different from India. Any encounter from a store, restaurant, hotel, etc., was pleasant. I also think it is due to the respective culture. People recognize each other. Similar to the concept of “Namaste” in Nepal. Namaste is the word for Hello, Good Morning, Good Bye, but the actual meaning is “The light in me recognizes the light in you” It may have a Buddhist history, but I think the concept rings true. Even for a split second in saying Namaste to someone brings a point of connection to each person. In the same way, I am finding that on a surface street level Japanese people have a similar connection. It’s hard to describe since I haven’t quite defined it myself. They do seem very endearing and respectful to everyone.

It’s funny because after spending time in India and Nepal, Japan doesn’t really even seem foreign to me. It seems closer to home than anything I’ve seen in a few weeks. At this point, I’m completely worn out. I guess that happens after working and traveling for 40 days straight, and moving to a new place or 5 in one week. At one point I was on 7 planes in a week and a half. Ouf. Needless to say, one thing that strikes me is that my cell phone doesn’t work here. I just think it’s ironic that of all the countries I’ve been sending emails to and from in the middle of jungles, my blackberry doesn’t work in the most technologically advanced country in the world.

I arrived in the evening on thursday from Hong Kong. There is not a lot of english speaking people here in Osaka. I had to find the Limosine bus to catch to the hotel. The nice thing is, the hotel is in the center of Osaka. The name seemed pretty funny to me, the New Hankyu hotel, in my terms, Hank yu very much. Upon arriving to the hotel, I was greeted by a nice young girl named Keiko who turned out to be my guide for my time in Osaka. Such a sweet girl. We decided the plan for the next few days, then I retired to my cubicle room for the evening. The room was very tiny. It reminded me of my apartment in Paris. For some reason it was piping hot in there. After going to bed, I wokeup at 5am because it was so hot i couldn’t sleep. I had to walk down to the reception to figure out why my room was so hot. After all, I had the air condition turned up to high. After playing charades with the guy at the front desk, he finally motioned for someone to come up to my room to open my window. When he got up there, he told me in single english words and hand motions that the Air Condition was actually the heat. Brilliant.

In the morning, we headed to Kyoto, which is towards the countryside. A very beautiful town with traditional japanese architecture and some temples. A nice river that ran through the city. The wonderful thing now is that the season is changing to autumn. The hillsides are patterned with greens, yellows, and reds from the trees changing. Most of the day was spent walking around this quaint an beautiful little town.

In the evening, we went to eat in downtown Kyoto. We asked someone where to find the Geisha, and he told us where the tiny little street. It’s more of a rarity these days to see Geisha walking around. If you find them, you can usually see them just before 6pm when they are on their way to work. So we ended up going down this tiny old little street filled with traditional looking Japanese restaurants and architecture. As we were walking, we heard the little bells chiming lightly in the rhythm of footsteps. Much to our surprise, a Geisha slips by. So surprising I didn’t even catch a glance at her because I didn’t know the little bells were the Geisha. Pretty amazing. We walked a little further, and saw two more. The chiming of the bells lingered into the distance.

Osaka II
I think one of the most interesting things to do when you’re traveling is to meet native families. You get to really see how people live, and even more into the culture. We got to visit a couple of families in Kyoto on Saturday. It was such a great experience. The first family we visited was very modern, and their house was modern japanese design. Very nice. The way the Japanese utilize wood is simply amazing. From wood floors, to walls, to anything they build is beautifully designed. After spending a little while with this family, we went to another town in Kyoto about an hour away. Traveling through the countryside is nice and peaceful. I’ve been often asked if I’m a country person or a City person, and I think with a lot of things in my life, I like the best of both worlds. I think that’s due to the artist within me that needs to be constantly stimulated. Regardless, the countryside is sometimes, and in the case of this trip a lot more interesting to photograph in. So many more beautiful scenes and people doing such interesting things. Naturally in third world countries you see people doing some of the most bizarre things. As Japan is a modern city, it’s still beautiful, but not as bizarre as other countries. The landscape and architecture definitely are unique though. The design of the signs is great. In Japan, I’m realizing there are a couple different types of design. The very Zen simplistic design and the information overload design, the first being my favorite.

Keiko’s friend’s mom was hosting kids club for some of the neighborhood girls which was a great time to visit. The great thing was we were able to visit in a very old traditional japanese home. The thin sliding wood and paper doors are amazingly designed. The girls were excited, and decided to dress up in their Kimonos for some photos. Most people in Japan really love foreigners. It was quite fun. The kids enjoyed me being there and made me many origami presents to take home.

One of the things I love about Japan is the level of service and respect you receive as a foreigner. Going to stores, restaurants, and even visiting people’s homes, they have the utmost respect for you. It’s truly a good feeling. You walk into a store and people will bow with respect, and treat you as if you were a king. It’s definitely something I’m not used to. The great thing, and the one thing that I really appreciate about it is that people are that way out of nature, and not obligation.

The Bullet to Tokyo
Osaka definitely has a different feel than Tokyo. It seems to have a happier vibe than Tokyo. Monday morning I checked out of the hotel, and found my way to the train station to take the Bullet train to Tokyo. I’m surprised at how on time and efficient everything is here. Even when it comes some of the infrastructure of different things here. I think that’s be biggest impression I get of Japan. Precise. The train arrive right on time. It’s always an adventure trying to find your way around a new city when you don’t speak the language. You’re usually left to charades, funny noises, and pointing.

After arriving, we decided to head out to the countryside where my friend Tim lives. He’s an American, and he and his family have been living in Tokyo for the last 16 years. They’ve adapted well. The countryside in Japan is much different than any of the other countries I’ve been to, but mainly due to the fact that it’s not a third world country. They live in an old traditional japanese home that was an added interest. We stopped at the place a home where he teaches private english lessons. The kids names were Miu and Kazuki. Very lovely children. The home was very modern but made of all wood. It had a very cabin/lodgy feel.

The next couple days were spent in the countryside relaxing. The season change is in effect, so traveling through the countryside is quite enticing. I would love to see it during the spring time with the cherry blossoms. We had a chance to eat Nabe, which is a very traditional Japanese dish where you have a shallow electric pot that goes in the middle of the table. You toss veggies and meat into it to cook along with some clear funky rice noodles. A lovely dish. The next day we headed back into the city, where I met up with my friend Takeshi. He showed me around Tokyo. We had some sushi for dinner, but to my surprise, most or all of the sushi you get in Japan is very traditional. Still good, but no fusion rolls or anything creative. I must say I enjoy the sushi in the states a whole lot more.

Tokyo Video Game
Walking through Tokyo is like playing a video game. The signs, lights, and sound bites everywhere make you wish you had your video game controller in your hands all the time. It’s kind of fun actually. There is a train line that circles the inner part of the city. It’s called the Yamanote line. Most of the popular or famous places are on this one side of this line. The train system in Japan is very convenient. The trains go everywhere, and is better than the subway system in New York. One of my favorite things is the chimes at each station on the Yamanote. Each station has a different chime melody, which does sound like a Japanese game show. It used to be a buzzer sound, which there are a few stations that still have the buzzer. They changed it for psychology reasons. They found that the buzzer makes people freak out and run, and was causing problems. Other sound bites, you hear all over. When you walk into stores, you they all shout welcome(obviously in Japanese). So it’s constant everywhere you walk. A lot of it comes through the tones of people’s voices.

I met up with my good friend Jun, who I met when I lived in Paris last year. He’s an amazing painter who is half Japanese, and half French. It’s always wonderful to hang out with people that live in the city you want to see. You definitely get an insider’s perspective. We had a couple small dinner parties at his brother’s house which is super small. It is very typical for Tokyo. The first night wasn’t very traditional japanese, but was a celebration of Thanksgiving for us Expats. We chowed down on some Kentucky Fried Chicken that the ole Colonel served us up.

I randomly met my new friend Jeannie in Osaka, and she lives in Tokyo. She was so kind to show me around some of her favorite spots in Tokyo, namely Harajuku. We met up for an afternoon and wandered the crowded streets. Harajuku is a fun little neighborhood. Yes, the Harajuku girls are there, but usually on the weekends. Just like in Gwen Stefani’s song Harajuku Girls. It’s definitely a sight to see. They get dressed up all crazy just to get attention from people. There are also goth kids there for the same thing. The highlight of my Harajuku experience though had to be the Free Hug people. They were just standing around with Free Hug signs. We then accepted our free hugs. Good times.

We headed down for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, which is a nice taste of home. It’s rather funny trying to order something in Japan that’s not on the menu. It straight up confuses them. You don’t get the “I’m lazy, I don’t to use the energy” look of the Starbucks workers in Paris, but you get the “Does not compute” look of something that is not in the employee handbook. So we had fun ordering a couple of Half Gingerbread/Half toffeenut lattes. Very amusing. Just as amusing as the strange australian guy that sat next to us. He was a strange bird, eavesdropping on our conversation and adding bizarre comments. Then she introduced me to Sukyaki, another interesting yet good japanese food. It’s vegetables, tofu, and some meat in nice little sauce that you dip into a raw egg and eat with rice. She claims the eggs are special and you can eat them raw.

We hung out again on Monday, and she showed me Shibuya, another main area on the Yamanote line. There is a huge intersection, the busiest intersection in the world. It’s the one many people might notice from the movie Lost in Translation. It’s amazing how so many people can cross a street at once. The intersection has crosswalks that cross diagonally from corner to corner, as well as the normal crosswalks that go across the street. It’s amusing to see a sea of black heads(that doesn’t sound too appealing, but hopefully you get the right picture) moving somehow in an organized but chaotic fashion.

Then there’s the Muji store with well designed and basic japanese things from clothes, to food. We found some lovely little yogurt covered cranberries. Very yum.
The next night I went out with her and some friend to see her friend who is a Japanese popstar. He’s actually a Japanese american. Asian americans usually do pretty well in Japan. The pop music industry is quite interesting there because of the japanese fan base. Since people are so into what is cool and what is the hippest, they become diehard fans of whatever artist they like or is popular. He opened for Cassie, a big pop star here in the states. Quite a nice surprise.

Tokyo must be a smaller world than I ever though. Probably smaller than LA, well at least in my world. Wednesday night, my last night in town, I was trolling through this awesome bookstore in Rapongi after having coffee with friend of mine, and out of shear randomness, I ran into Jeannie walking around this bookstore. The crazy thing is that she had never been to that bookstore and was just stopping by to “look at books” but really to use the restroom. That was the first time I’d ever been to Rapongi. I’ve lived in LA for 6 months now, and have only ran into someone I know randomly on the street just once. I only know a handful of people in Tokyo and what are the odds of running into someone I know? Very bizarre I tell you. Very bizarre.

Cultural Quirks
Overall Japan is a wonderful country. Some of my favorite things to learn about are the differences and quirks of each culture. Something interesting about the culture, is that is a low self-esteem culture. There are good and bad things about this. One of the good things that comes out of it, is the level of service you get anywhere from restaurants to stores. People are so kind and put you as a guest or foreigner first. They treat you like a king. They bow to you (slight bow, not hands and knees. Lets just make sure you get the right picture in your head) out of respect, making sure you as the customer get the service you deserve. People are kind and respectful by nature. Even if you are a guest in someone’s home, they treat you very well. It inspires me to be more hospitable myself. The downside of this, is people are very insecure, so they feel like they have to be up on the most popular thing, or the right group, or wearing the latest thing to have value. You can see this even just by walking the streets. In all the cities(including new york) I’ve been to I’ve never seen a higher percentage of people that are wearing some tricked out outfit. Not to mention all the people wearing their sunglasses at night. In my opinion it’s a little overboard. There are so many people with the hippest and trendiest clothing, that everyone all looks the exact same. Maybe this is not a downside, but rather just a fact. Japanese people find their identity in groups, or the group they belong to. That translates into the business world. The business world in Japan is still very much about the corporations and what company you belong to. So much in fact, if you are introducing yourself in the business world, you introduce yourself as “Hi, I’m from ... company, and my name is” Another interesting thing about this is, that it’s hard to get in to a higher position. You basically are supposed to start in a company and work your way up by working there for years. As an independent freelancer, it is very hard to get in because it’s such a group based culture.

Another interesting concept is the senority idea. It’s similar to the casting system in India in the fact that people discriminate a lot based upon your ranking. The better thing is, it more depends on your age, sex, and experience than the casting system where you are born into whatever rank you are in. Within the first part of an initial engagement, Japanese people can figure out where they rank with the other person, and act accordingly. I suppose there are good and bad things to this.

Tokyo Highlights
I’d have to say, my last day in Tokyo was one of the highlights. I went out in the morning to shoot in Shinjuku. It’s a very popular and main connection point in Tokyo on the Yamanote train line. You can go to the government building at that stop, not to mention the Canon showroom. The government building is a popular place to go to view the city. They have a viewing room that you can see all of Tokyo, and on a clear day you can see Mount Fuji. Very amazing.

I met up with Jun, his roommate, and his brother for dinner in Shinjuku. His roommate, Chie wanted to pick a good place to eat. She selected a wonderful Shabu Shabu restaurant to eat at. It was the best meal I had my whole time in Japan. You basically have a little burner at your table where they put water in to start. You get the water boiling, then start throwing veggies into it. Then the bring you a plate of paper thin sliced beef. You then pick up the slice and dip it in the boiling water for a few seconds and voila! It’s cooked! Then you dip it in this luscious sesame sauce first, and second into a nice little soy sauce mixture with green onions, garlic, and a special radish. The perfect combo sends your taste buds spinning! Needless to say I had four plates of meat. Only one word describes it. AMAZING!

After dinner, Chie showed us an old part of Shinjuku, with tiny little streets and local spots. Such a wonderful experience. Then we headed over to the local game parlor and played some ping pong. Jun and I used to play ping pong in the parks in Paris last year. We had to get in our last fix before I left.
To finish the evening, we had to do Japanese Kareoke. Kareoke is the biggest thing since sliced bread there. It’s different than Kareoke in the states. You get your own little private room for you and your friends. We went and threw down some Kareoke for a half an hour and headed back.

Asia Finally.
I have to say Asia has been my favorite continent. This trip was overall the best trip of my life. All the countries in Asia are so unique in and of themselves. More different from each other than most of the other continents I’ve been to. To top it off, most of the countries in Asia have amazing food. Food is definitely an part of a country that enhances or takes away from my experience. Overall, most of the people in Asia are super friendly out of nature. So welcoming to foreigners. The terrain in most countries was stunningly beautiful from the desolate hills of Mongolia, to the rice fields of Thailand, to the piercing peaks of the Himalayas.

I absolutely count my blessings for the experiences I’ve had.