Happy Halloween!

 

I have seen lots of halloween goods in the shops such as decorations and food and have heard people talking about fancy dress parties they are going to. However I think that in Japan children don`t go trick or treating which is surely one of the best bits of halloween!

Walked past this cute little pumpkin at the weekend with stickers stuck on it. It seems to be sat on a christmas napkin though which i don`t quite understand!

 

 

 

 

I have always loved these koala bear biscuits and I now love them even more because of the adorable special halloween packaging! I didn`t want to throw it out so it is now a pen holder. Also it wasn`t just the packaging, even the koalas on the biscuits were dressed up as ghosts and witches etc!

 

 

 

 

 



feeling inspired...

After going to the Elliot Erwitt exhibition I came away feeling really inspired. I love the magic of his photos, how he makes the evreryday things seem interesting and comical. Also I love the effect of black and white photography. Since the Kahitsukan is near Gion I went for a wander around. But instead of following all the tourists on the main streets I took some of the less busy back streets and just took photos of everything around me. After I Gion I walked back home along Kamo Gawa river. When I got home I immediately uploaded them to my laptop and changed some of them to black and white. Obviously they are nothing compared to Elliot Erwitt`s photos but I hope you like them anyway!

 

My favourite photos of Elliot Erwitt`s were all the dog ones. Not because I`m a massive fan of dogs but just because, well I don`t actually know why... Anyway I walked past this lovely dog who was such a poser!

Looking into the kitchen of a fancy Gion restaurant.

Not a Geisha but even so, it`s nice to get a photo of someone wearing a kimono in Gion.

This tiny cat walked around in circles for a while before deciding to take the leap! 

 

 

These two dogs were having so much fun running along by the river getting lots of attention!

 

I love how the photo above looks like the dog is walking down a catwalk, kind of... well maybe it only looks like that to me.

Elliot Erwitt exhibition

Today I went to an exhibition at Kahitstukan Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art were they had a wonderful collection of photos by Elliot Erwitt. He was born in Paris in 1926 but his parents were Russian and he later moved to America. In 1950 he became a professional photographer and won a Life photography competition. At the age of 25 Erwitt became a member of the Magnum photos agency. Although he photographed people such as Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol he was also interested in the people he saw around him every day. And it was these photos which I found most inspiring.  Elliot`s father had been ordained a Buddhist priest at Nishihonganji Temple in Kyoto and his ashes are enshrined there.  So this exhibition being held in Kyoto has great significance. Below are some photos I took of the book I bought at the exhibition.

Some people say that my photographs are melancholy and some think they are sad. Funny and sad, isn't that the same thing? Elliot Erwitt

"For a photograph to be good it must have balance, form and substance. But for it to be very good it must have indefinable magic." Elliot Erwitt

"If my pictures help people to notice things in a certain way... perhaps to look at serious things not seriously and not serious things seriously, I would be pleased. In my photography I think that everything is serious and everything is not serious." Elliot Erwitt

Jidai Matsuri Parade



On the 22nd of October it was Jidai Matsuri which is the second biggest festival in Kyoto after Gion Matsuri. It is a parade from the Imperial Palace to Heian Jingu. The Parade consists of people dressed up in costumes from different periods in Japan`s history. Although the main parade is beautiful and an interesting insight into Japanese history I personally prefer the part before the parade, the build up to the main event. I went to the Imperial Palace and half nine and saw all the participants arriving in their costumes. It all felt much more relaxed and less formal. Because of this there were hardly any other tourists and I was able to get up close.

 

 

Walking along side the morning traffic 



Even the 'Emperor' has to wait at the zebra crossing



Entering the Imperial Palace



Lunch time!



Even samurai need help tying their shoe laces!



The start of the official parade

That Friday Feeling

Every Friday I come home from school and then listen to Radio 1. This is my Friday feeling, listening to good tunes to set me up for the weekend ahead. So I have decided that from now on I will post one of my favourite songs of the moment every Friday. This week it is Counting Stars by OneRepublic. Enjoy!

Tokyo Sky Tree

The recent addition to Tokyo`s skyline is of course the Sky Tree which opened last year. Although we didn`t actually go up it, we did stay at The Gate Hotel in Asakusa which had great views of the Sky Tree.  At night it is illuminated and there are two illumination patterns which alternate daily. One is Iki (chic and stylish) and the other is Miyabi (elegance and refinement.) The one I saw was Miyabi which is purple, the other design is blue.

The Sky Tree at night which was very hard to photograph since we were inside and there were lots of reflections

Looking over to Shinjuku

Me and The Sky Tree

The Gate Hotel`s terrace

Back in the blogosphere

Ok so I realise that I have abandoned my blog for over one month, oops! However it isn`t because I have been lazy, it`s due to a chain of events which I guess you could just call excuses. To start off with I was ill, then I went to Tokyo and had a super busy schedule, the my mum came to visit, then I started a new school term and then on top of it all my laptop decided to have a holiday and stop working. Anyway, all is fine now and I have lots of interesting stuff to post about including all the fun things I got up to in Tokyo! I have been before but can`t actually remember it because I was very young, so in a way this felt like my first time to go to Tokyo so I was super excited. We all know that Tokyo is a buzzing metropolis where anything is possible, but to be there and to experience it for yourself is truly wonderful.

The very first photo I took when I arrived in Tokyo