NZPhotographer Issue 10, Aug 2018

JOURNEYING TO JAPAN
by Emanuel Maisel
You might visit Japan expecting to find a Samurai, a Geisha, and a Ninja all in one
place but that Japan does not exist anymore. Now, in a country where old meets
new, it’s a place where Taiko drums fill your spirit and ladies still walk around in
their colourful and stylish Kimonos.
Japan for me, is an extraordinary
experience that I will surely never tire of.
I hope my words and my photography
will transport you to this wonderland for a few
moments as you click through the following
pages.
My own fascination with Japan started when
I was about 11 years old after having seen
You Only Live Twice, a James Bond movie
which was shot in Japan and featured Ninja,
craters, and beautiful landscapes. Now, I’m
able to visit regularly as a tourist thanks to my
son living in Yokohama – He is married to a
Japanese girl and they live in Shin-Kawasaki.
He is an English teacher at a Japanese
school and she is a Theatre Sister/Nurse at a
hospital in Tokyo.
I find the Japanese culture and its people
absolutely fascinating; the extremely
reserved and almost over-polite people and
the calm, almost serene way of going about
daily life. Their respectful interactions and
aim-to-please mentality are quite refreshing
although no doubt, behind the closed doors
of their homes, people are dealing with the
same life challenges as you and I. Some
might see it as a weakness but underneath
there is a precise and very structured way
of managing everyday life and surely the
country would be less successful if it was
anything less. How else do you maintain
order in a country with a population of over
126 million where everything works and
there’s basically no crime whatsoever.
A country where beauty is found almost
everywhere can be overwhelming to
explore, especially for a photographer who
doesn’t want to miss anything! In an ultramodern
city such as Tokyo, the old and the
new blend together - temples, shrines and
magnificent gardens are hidden behind
modern buildings and if you do not have a
keen eye, you might just miss it. You might
think the thousands of people walking on the
streets and the helter-skelter of telephone
poles, electric wires and bicycles are
elements of disorder and confusion, but it
is very much a part of modern Japan and
everyday life. I greatly enjoy capturing the
hustle and bustle of the city in my street
scenes but if you take note of the small
things in life you will easily see a small flower
growing somewhere outside the barriers
around a construction site or a bonsai tree in
a garden.
We try and visit different cities and places
every year we visit Japan. We love visiting
in winter as it is easier to dress warmly than
face the humidity of Japan in summer where
you’re wet the whole time with perspiration!
I think if I had to choose a favourite city, it
would be between Tokyo, Yokohama, and
Kyoto but Japan is Japan and for me, the
country as a whole is the most beautiful
place I have ever been to.
44 NZPhotographer