Yokohama Sea Taxi

One of the things that makes Yokohama one of the most interesting cities in Japan right now is their great use of the city’s prime oceanfront location. There is a great network of sightseeing boats, cruise ships and sea taxies crisscrossing the harbor and if you feel like you need to save your legs while sight seeing or want to try something else than a train or subway ride back to Yokohama station, then the Sea Taxi might be worth checking out. It is not that much more expensive than other public transportation and certainly cheaper than a normal taxi (although not cheaper than a rental bike or bicycle taxi).

I went on the little Sea Bass, the speediest sea taxi in Yokohama bay to save me from walking all the way back to a station and then get on a train back to Yokohama station. At 580 yen (children half price) the ticket price was not too much, especially considering that the night time view of Yokohama from the ocean is pretty sweet.

The Sea Bass commutes from Yamashita Park – Pier Akarenga – Minatomirai Pukari Sanbashi – Yokohama Station East Exit. On the way you will see all these destinations and more. In the last two decades there has been massive development in this area of Yokohama and I see new buildings every time I pass through, for example several new upscale apartment houses and a brad new commercial center at the east end of Yokohama Station. Well, brand new for me at least! You also get a good view of the Japan Coast Guard ships anchored at harbor and the opportunity to spot a lot of other ships and boats coming into or out of the harbor. In winter this ride was pretty chilly but it is fantastic in summer!

Here is a visitor guide to all the tour boats in Yokohama harbor, and here is the official site of the Sea Bass.

Ikebukuro Traffic – Photo Fun

One of the first thing you’ll notice when visiting Tokyo is that in the evenings, more than half of the traffic on the roads are usually taxis. Tokyo taxis are parts of the visual make up of the city and I know many photographers and tourists who have a soft spot for the mostly yellow, green and red taxi cars! They’re a given for any collection of “the” Tokyo tourist photo collection!

A fun thing you can do with almost any camera to get some interesting travel photography is “tracking traffic”. I took these photos outside Tokyo’s Ikebukuro JR station a while ago of the traffic zooming past the station. Tracking shots like this are really easy to do but sometimes tricky to get just right. What you do is move the camera to follow the car or object, blurring the background but (hopefully) keeping the moving object razor sharp.

I set the camera to 1/10s, f10, and ISO 500 for this fairly bright city street. Then I waited for a car to come into my viewfinder. I follow the car with my camera and while moving, press the shutter, keep following (or tracking) the car and don’t stop until the picture is done. Repeat, try different settings, and enjoy!

No photoshop was used to alter these images.

Christmas Bicycle Taxis

Allow me to talk about bicycle taxis once again. While walking in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district last night I saw these two bicycle eco taxis and their talkative drivers. These taxis started out in Harajuku a few years ago but they’re in Yokohama and Marunouchi now as well. I like the crazy uniforms of the drivers, a santa and a young butler complete with top hat and paper mustache. They seem to be especially busy now during the Christmas season and people flocking to see the light decorations. Stay tuned for more photos from Marunouchi tomorrow!

Ecological Taxi – Velotaxi in Yokohama

Recently I see more and more of these colorful bicycle taxis around Tokyo and Yokohama. I caught these two at Akarenga Soko (the Red Brick Warehouse) in Yokohama’s Minatomirai district, waiting for customers. In Tokyo they are most common around the Omotesando, Harajuku area. Colorful, fun, fast and with a very small ecological footprint. What is not to like about them?

In Tokyo and Yokohama the cheapest normal taxi (the diesel version) is 710 yen for the shortest trips. These velotaxis are much cheaper than that and large enough to seat two persons!