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Not far from Tokyo, Nikko has sparkling golden temples assaulted by hordes of tourists. I like the silence of this picture. |
You can't help loving the images of the Japanese fall, even though they are used everywhere. This knockout red reminds me of the wonderful fall duel in the Chinese movie Hero (by Zhang Yimou), an as much irresistible masterpiece.
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Tokyo is a city that changes and rises very quickly. Those who live at the 30th floor of an expensive skyscraper can see a breathtaking view, or... the window of the opposite skyscraper! |
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In Tokyo you can find multi-layer crossroads: a canal for boats, a railway and an elevated highway. The Mori Tower is probably the most sumptuous skyscraper in the metropolis. At the 49th floor I presented my animation project Rusty Red. |
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Sunset from the Mori Tower in the Roppongi district. The metropolitan area around Tokyo is really endless. It takes at least 90' by train from the city center to find the first rural areas. |
A silent corner in a temple in Kyoto, where you can still find the traditional Japan.
"Light up" in Kyoto. Unfortunately, Japanese temples close at 5 p.m. But in the fall, some of them stay open till night, offering atmospheres which are even too perfect, but indeed charming, especially under a light rain.
Lanterns in a temple in Nara, one of the most renowned destinations in Japan, for its temples and museums, where extremely beautiful statues are shown.
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This street, in Osaka, looks to me as if being about to go to bed after the merry-making. The city is famous for its night entertainment, its comedians and the local food. The okonomiyaki is an excellent mixed omelet, simply unbeatable. |
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Kurashiki, a town with a nice little ancient district, famous as much as touristy. Avoiding the artificial gift shops, I bumped into this glove, which had, to my eyes, the look of and ancient Japanese ghost. But I don't know why. |
Tokyo is a blaze of mirrors. But the mirror is also the final object present in the tabernacles of many temples. I wonder what the city sees in its mirrors, like a pilgrim at the climax of its mystical exaltation.
At the end of the war, it was too expensive to lay wires underground. They have remained this way since then, creating a web of wires and meters that would scare our urban engineers and electricians. Nevertheless, I think these wires increase the charm of Tokyo.
Restaurants and passages beneath the Tokyo railways are a fascinating underground world, which inspired the cyberpunk style of such animators as Katsuhiro Otomo and Koji Morimoto.
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Naples? No, Tokyo. Japanese people are not as cold and silent as ancient samurais. For example, the vivid popular market Ameyokocho, in the Ueno district, is full of sellers who tirelessly shout at the passing customers, inviting them to buy their goods. |
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The Tokyo International Forum, which resembles the frame of a ship, is one of the most surprising buildings in the city. I wouldn't be surprised if it could take off like a zeppelin. |
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Working the whole day, with their frustrations and difficulties in meeting girls, salary-men can let out their worries and desires in clubs like this one. The hostesses are lady companions, J-pop geishas, who don't necessarily offer sexual performances (which are actually deprived of the sinful side we see in them). In a similar way, hostesses, who are frustrated as well, can let out their emotions with the "hostos", trendy boys with weird blond cornered hair. |
I sneak in an old wharf in the Tokyo bay. It's a great hoard of old tools and engines, cranes and chains. It's a place which looks like it was suddenly abandoned, becoming for decades the abode of the witch of rust.
If you want a rough and rusty place, you can just go to the charming Tsukiji fish market, a huge and frantic pavilion which seems to have just come out of the post-war era.
A circular traffic light frame in Shinjuku. Due to space and traffic problems, you can't park your car in the streets, in Tokyo, but only in car parks, which are often inside the buildings. You can't buy a car without proving you have a parking spot.
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A century-old tower in the town of Kawagoe, which still has ancient storehouses, exceptionally built in terracotta in order to resist fires. Traditional Japanese buildings were instead made of wood. Stone was mainly used for the skirting-boards of the castles. |
A Buddhist swastika in a temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. What a shame that we lost the real meaning of the Sanskrit word, translatable as "Symbol of Good Luck ".
On the sacred mountain Koya-san, the largest cemetery in Japan is really a mystic place. Thousands of ancient gravestones stand under very tall ancient cedars, up to the Kobo Daishi mausoleum, where 10.000 lanterns shine. Daishi was the monk who imported esoteric Shingon Buddhism into Japan in the ninth century.
An old, western style building in the modern Yokohama harbor. It's not rare to bump into this kind of buildings. Tokyo station, for instance, is a copy of the station of Amsterdam.
The futurist deck for cruiser ships in the Yokohama harbor is an architectural jewel, covered with wood and real grass. But the insects which animate the meadows keep away from it.
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A traditional mask in the many-colored Yokohama Chinatown, the biggest one in Japan, which is a paradise for gourmets and panda fans. If these bears had a copyright on their own image, for sure they wouldn't be close to extinction. |