Japan with JR-Pass

[Joka]

I was in Japan for two weeks in October-November. I got a JR-Pass before I went there (which is the only way to get it, you can't buy it in Japan), well spent money (two week JR-Pass cost 430€). I got off the airplane, changed in the coupon for the actual JR-Pass and rest of the trip traveling was a breeze. Even within Tokyo and Osaka JR gets you to most places. I only used subways 3 times during the trip. I ended up traveling about 1500km just between the cities.

The route was:
Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka-Kyoto(Nara & Yamazaki Distillery)-Hiroshima-Okayama-Kurashiki

It was a bit hectic schedule for two weeks, but my gf had to be in certain places for work. I was sort of tagging along, I liked it a lot, great trip, beautiful country.

I wanted to leave my DSLR at home and just bring a pocket camera, it's not like I'm making prints anyway and lugging around a big camera just to get a bit (a lot?) better image quality isn't really worth it IMO, specially with my old D80. Plus, The best camera is the one you have with you, and a pocket camera is with you more often I figured. So I got a Sony HX9V. It takes decent quality pictures, the noise reduction can be a bit too aggressive though. Awesome image stabilizer. You be the judge

Anyway, here's some pictures (I changed levels and tones on all of them to get rid of the grey veil, might look unnatural(?) ) :
Tokyo..


On this one you can really see the noise reduction at work.. it almost looks like a vector image

Red steel coming up..


Great image stabilization, big zoom and no parental supervision = too much close ups








Views from Tokyo Tower...




The HX9V has a sweep Panorama function.. . It's nice for quick panoramas but the results aren't that detailed..







Mount Fuji, barely visible after some photshopping
The sun was lighting up the sky around Fuji so you couldn't really see it with your own eyes, it was like looking in to the... sun.


Jumping a bit head but; here's Fuji from the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Nagoya.


This one is slightly photoshopped as well, the mountains was washed out in the original.


You can see The Tokyo Metropolitan Building in the distance


And you can see The Tokyo Tower from there as well.




Next in line for the throne being built, I think Tokyo Sky Tree opens in 2012?



To be continued.. .

[ivopietra]

pretty awsome, it seems there never was an earthquake.

[CurioCity]

very nice wiews

[Joka]

We did a small excursion to Kamakura and Enoshima island, about 50km from Tokyo (with Japanese rail network, 50km is nothing )
While you're traveling between Tokyo and Kamakura you never notice leaving a city, the urban area is just massive.

Kamakura




Enoshima island






Enoshima was a short train trip away from Kamakura, I'm not sure if this town has a different name? Anyway, it was not hit by the tsunami.




Back in Tokyo, Minato ward I think..


Lots of canals

[Joka]

Last batch from Tokyo I think.


Disney Land!


Getting off Tokyo station, (one of) the beating heart(s) of the largest metropolitan economy.








Noving towards the imperial palace






There's The Sky Tree!


Popular place to be photographed
(By the way, I saw people walking on the bridge further away what looked like towards the palace but I never figured out how to get there. Did those people reserve a tour in advance or something? Tokyo people?)




There was a lot of German flags flying around, maybe a visit by some high official. For a second I thought I might get a glimpse of Merkel.. nope.


One more view towards Tokyo area(?)


Shinjuku


What is that?


City hall!


The white building with the curve reminds me of Sim City 2000 for some reason, wasn't it one of the high density commercial buildings?




One more cityscape picture from highabove, last one (from Tokyo )
I had to photoshop it to get the mountains visible again. Would have been nice with the dynamic range of an DSLR here.


Shibuya intersection! This is often chosen as the representative vista of Tokyo in movies.. . for some reason.

Next stop Nagoya!

[Nightsky]

Nicw

[Joka]

Only stayed in Nagoya for one day, I don't have that much to show for it..
Would have been nice to explore more though.






Nagoya. Note, the ornaments are sharks, not dolphins. Even if the english pamphlet says dolphins.



Views from top of Nagoya castle





A shrine.

Yeah, not that much to show for it. I spent a surprising amount of timing running around town looking for something to see, should have planned it a bit better. Now that I think of it, I didn't really see anything in Nagoya except for the castle and this shrine.

They had a railway museum there that was called SC Maglev & Railway Park, for a while I got my hopes up and thought they had that Maglev test track in Nagoya, nope. Turned out it was just a museum with static trains, didn't go there. They did have a lowspeed maglev track in Nagoya though. Somehow it got dropped down in my priorities, and I never made it. Probably because it wasn't going 500km/h.

[Linguine]

Very nice photos of Japan.....thanks for sharing.

[GeneratorNL]

I'm waiting for the rest of the pics. Keep posting!

[christos-greece]

Amazing and very nice shots; well done

[Joka]

Osaka. The worlds 7th largest metropolitan economy, home of the most jovial people in Japan (?) and a city where everyone stands on the wrong side of the escalator.

Only staid there for one day, would have been nice to explore more.


Osaka Station.


Umeda Sky Building with breast cancer ribbon. (Stunning views from the roof at night)




Proper moat and wall. Hard to imagine it ever having been taken by force (and this was the 2nd moat!).


Osaka castle










Shrine again

[Joka]

Couple more from Osaka, then Kyoto.

[Joka]

Kyoto.




Tough job!






There was a campaign in Kyoto that allowed people dressed in traditional clothes to travel for free on public transportation.




Ninja!


View from Kiyomizu


Apparently in Japanese lingo making a big decision with an uncertain outcome is likened to jumping down from Kiyomizu.







Nara...








Green tea sweets!

[DanielFigFoz]

Great photos! How did you find Japan?

[Assemblage23]

Wonderful thread. I've been in Japan, but only in Tokyo and I love the way Osaka looks in your pictures. Now I'm curious to know it one day.

Thanks for shariing.

[Joka]

Originally Posted by DanielFigFoz

Great photos! How did you find Japan?

It was awesome!

Couple of observations..

Coming from Finland it struck me how the whole society was geared for working. People go to work early in the morning, stay there as long as it takes and usually come back late at night. Over here there would be a revolution if that was expected of workers.

The city planning and zoning was interesting. Even in a huge city like Tokyo (in what seemed like the middle of the city), there could be these peculiar buildings built on a narrow plot of land, with stairs rising in front of the facade. Basically looking more like a sleeping unit than a residential building. I'm guessing this has some historical reasons, division of land or something? I never figured out if all the narrow buildings formed an inner courtyard together or if it was just building all the way through.
By contrast in Europe city centers are almost exclusively perimetrical-quarters.

Another peculiarity is how you're on the one hand struck with the wealth in Japan, it's just pouring from every direction. You go in to a shop and just go "ok, these people have some serious purchasing power". (I even took a picture of the tripod selection in a Yodobashi camera store, it was immense. )

But on the other hand it seems none of this wealth is invested in architecture (historical buildings, landmarks & commercial buildings not withstanding). The majority of buildings, no offense, look like concrete huts. I read a book in one of the hotels and they had this theory that land prices in Japan are so expensive that it is rarely a good idea to build something permanent on a plot.

Maybe this is correlated with the city planning and zoning though. If you build a lot of buildings with a small footprint instead of large blocks the price of architecture per house goes up.. I don't know. Interesting nevertheless.

But yeah, great country. I had a great time. Wish I had more time to explore the cities though, two weeks would have been more suitable for Tokyo alone. But my girlfriend wanted to get home to her parents and had to be in some places for work before that so the trip came pre-planned. I did get the *whisky distillery thrown in there though!

* Coming soon!

[geococcyx]

Amazing photos!

[Joka]

Originally Posted by geococcyx

Amazing photos!

Thanks!

My computer actually broke down and I just recently got it back... Maybe I should finish the thread. Left off in Nara; still Hiroshima, Okayama and Kurashiki to go

[Patrick Highrise]

We want more!! Very nice thread.
I have only been to Tokyo and Kamakura so nice the see more parts of a great country!

[Joka]

Ok, the journey continues..


Leaving Kyoto.


Don't get caught between the doors!


They organize free tours (almost) every day, just call in advance. Suntory also make Hibiki Whisky. Oishii!


Whisky library!






Passing Osaka on the way to Hiroshima


I wish we had these in Finland.


Hiroshima street view.


Genbaku dome. UNESCO world heritage site.


It's quite remarkable how Hiroshima has recovered from this and grown in to a bustling city.


This picture is taken more or less beneath the red ball, now the the biggest worry is UV-radiation!

Btw, Take note of the highrise to the right for reference in a picture soon to come.


Peace park. The pocket camera can take pictures of this quality while recording 1080p. Let it be noted in it's defense!


Going to Itsukushima.


JR handles ferries too!


Another UNESCO world heritage site, Itsukushima Shrine.




Going up Mt. Misen with cable car.




Views from the top cable-car station. From here it was about a 45min walk to the top of Mt. Misen IIRC.




Top of the top. View towards Hiroshima.


See the highrise? The limitations of a compact camera are becoming clear.




Cable car down.


And it's already evening..