New Year Dawn – Akagi Shrine

The last darkness of the old year gives way to the first pale light of the first morning on the new year. Just before dawn on New Year’s Day I visited Akagi Shrine in Tokyo’s famous Kagurazaka district. This shrine is easily the most modern shinto shrine in Japan – all glass, concrete and machine cut stone! It was bitingly cold night but I stood around to enjoy the last of the moon before the sun came out. There was a steady stream of visitors even at that time, mostly couples or men and women coming alone, but also a few locals offering bottles of sake or boxes of fruits to the shrine and even a rowdy group of drunk young men. If you’re ever in the area, this is one of the must see shrines of Tokyo!

Rising Moon over Nagoya

I spent the weekend in Nagoya, the industrial heart of Japan and also home to some pretty impressive recent architecture. This is taken just from the side of the Nagoya station Meitetsu side. Can you spot the moon rising?

Gibbous Moon Over Tokyo

I shot this a few day ago on my roof with a handheld 500mm lens. I am pretty sure I can get a much better shot than this but I for now I wanted to show you this one. Maybe I’ll try again tonight. Recently we’ve had a good weather, which is great since we’re at the beginning of a very long Golden Week (which is the name Japanese give to a week long holiday where they in typical Japanese fashion all go out and do exactly the same things at the same times – expect ticket prices to sky rocket and all hotel rooms to be fully booked).

Gibbous Moon Over Tokyo (handheld at 500mm)