TOKYO, JAPAN
First of all, I’ld like to apologies for the lack of posts. I thought I was going to be able to post a photo a day but I quickly realised it wasn’t going to be possible. With early mornings, late nights, days full with travel and visits, the only time I had was on the long train rides between cities but I used that to catch up on some sleep. I didn’t think our days were going to be so long and full. Anyway…
The second train we caught on our first day in Japan was a bullet train to Kyoto from Shinagawa Station. Two high speed trains past our platform before ours arrived. The first one took us by surprise with a gust of wind pushing us off balance. I captured the second train with a slow shutter to show motion but fast enough to freeze the people waiting on the platform. They weren’t moving much. We don’t have trains in New Caledonia so this is a photo I’ve been waiting to capture for a while. Glad I got the Japanese characters on the board too.
All station notices are in Japanese and English so it’s was fairly easy to get around if you understand English. You just need to take your time to find the right signs. We also used two apps to get around by trains, Google Maps and Hyperdia. The latter is free to use for two (2) weeks then you need to pay for a month or a yearly subscription. The free offer was perfect for us. Oh and I highly recommend getting the JR Pass if you intend on traveling around Japan in high speed trains and/or a rechargeable IC Card for inner city trains. We didn’t use the IC Card as our JR Pass could be used on the inner city trains we used. You need to buy the JR Pass in advance though, before you head to Japan. You’ll received a ticket that you’ll exchange for the actual pass once in Japan. The airport is probably the easiest place to do that. It’s a little more difficult to find a place outside the airport. By our calculations, we saved around 40% by purchasing the pass. Up to you to do your research.
So I’m back home now but I’ve got a lot of photos of Japan I’d like to share with you. See you on the next post. Oyasuminasai.
1/15th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 400, 28 mm