Public transport in Japan has its harsher moments, especially when the rush compresses everyone into the same few carriages. Step outside those hours, though, and the experience shifts noticeably. The same trains feel lighter, the platforms less hurried, and the journey begins to open up. Mid-morning or late evening, there is space to stand without…
Underground car park entrance to my favourite shop in Tokyo, Yodobashi Akiba. Today’s visit had a clear purpose: the Voigtländer Nokton Classic 40mm f1.4 MC. Ever since a friend let me try his, the idea has stayed with me. It is compact, reasonably priced, and wide open it gives a gentle, pleasing look that suits…
On New Year’s Day, the street leading to Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Jinja takes on a slightly surreal calm, enforced by a very practical police van parked squarely across the road. It sits there like a polite but immovable suggestion that you will be walking from here. The van marks the boundary between everyday traffic and the slow-moving…
Can you spot the errors ChatGPT did when describing the photo: The scene unfolds beneath the wooden eaves of Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Jinja, during the New Year visit when half of the region seems to turn up at once. Two monks kneel quietly on the raised platform, heads bowed, wrapped in dark robes that soak up…
Koto demonstration for the new year in Tokyo Midtown. The koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument with a long, elegant wooden body that looks slightly like a boat that decided to become musical. It usually has thirteen strings stretched over movable bridges, which players shift carefully before performing. This simple detail allows endless variations…
Right next to Tokyo Midtown, Hinokicho Park feels like someone accidentally left a slice of calm behind. Step away from the glass towers and you land among trees, stone paths and a small pond where koi drift about as if deadlines do not exist. Office workers eat lunch on benches, photographers linger longer than planned, and the city…
New Year visit at the Musashi Ichinomiya Hikawa Jinja, one of the oldest and most important Shinto shrines in the Kanto region, tucked inside a surprisingly vast forest in Omiya. A long gravel approach lined with towering trees slows you down nicely, even if your mind is racing ahead. The shrine itself feels calm and…
Spice Labs Tokyo sits quietly in Tokyo, the sort of place you could walk past a dozen times while hunting for a coffee and regret later. Inside, it feels calm and focused, like a small workshop where everyone knows exactly what they are doing. The cooking leans Indian but refuses to behave. Spices are layered…
Akasaka subway station slips into character with impressive commitment when Harry Potter takes over the neighbourhood. The usual metro signage is suddenly joined by house colours, glowing posters, wizarding graphics and just enough theatrical lighting to make you half-expect a spell to be announced instead of a subway line.
A typical Japanese neighbourhood in transition. The older houses are about fifty years old, two floors, a small garden out front or tucked round the back, enough space to breathe and enough light to remind you what season it is. These places feel lived in, not optimised. Sadly, they are being replaced, one plot at…
