New York City Noir

Photo Shoot with Chiemi -- Asakusa

 
I photographed my best friend Chiemi towards the end of my stay in Tokyo.  The shoot was at another Inari shrine in Asakusa.  This visit to Tokyo was the first where I'd shot digital color rather than black & white film, and it certainly worked well for my shoot with Chiemi.  If I'd shot black & white, I wouldn't have been able to capture the bright colors of her outfit.  Chiemi designed the modifications to the dress herself and did a fabulous job coordinating the colors into a true impressionist palette.

After the shoot, Chiemi and I had lunch at the same Asakusa restaurant where I'd eaten with Lira at the beginning of my stay.  It was great to have a quiet lunch and talk over old times with such a good friend.  As we were talking, we discovered that Chiemi and Lira were both listed with the same model agency, SOS Models, in Tokyo.  Small world.

 

Wedding Ceremony -- Meiji Shrine

 
The Meiji Shrine, dedicated to memory of the late emperor and his wife, is one of the most beautiful and peaceful areas in Tokyo.  One follows a road through a heavily wooded botanical gardens until one reaches the temple buildings themselves, a faithful reconstruction of the structures destroyed by bombing during World War II.

The shrine is also apparently the location for traditional Japanese weddings.  One weekend when I was visiting I was lucky enough to see such a ceremony.  I stood on the side with tourists and took these pictures from a distance as the official wedding photographer did his work.  I noticed the photographer was working with the best equipment available, including a Leaf camera back.

 

 

Drum Performance -- Harajuku

 
There was a brief earthquake one Sunday morning while I was still lying in bed in my hotel.  The bed shook for a while, but that was it.  Afterwards, I left as planned to visit the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku.

Harajuku is a Tokyo neighborhood that tries hard to come across as counter culture, but really is so gentrified that it's high priced beyond any boho's wildest dreams.

At the entrance to the shrine, close to the Harajuku JR train station, a group of drummers were performing a benefit for earthquake/tsunami relief.  Aside from the discreet jar in my hotel lobby, to which I'd contributed as much as I could, the was the first sign I'd seein in Tokyo that any disaster had ever even occurred. 

 

 

 

Club "Underground" -- Asakusa

 

Asakusa is the last stop on the Ginza line metro.  The station dates back to 1927 when it was built as the end point of "the first underground railway in the Orient."  Above is the famous shrine -- the Kaminarion Gate is on the next corner from the station's Gate 1. 

But downstairs, in the subway concourse itself, a dilapidated section has been turned into an alternative art gallery and party place.  There is a lit sign at the tunnel entrance that reads "Underground" (in Japanese kana, of course). The spirit I saw there was authentic and actually reminded me a lot of the East Village vibe in the early 1960's.

 

 

 

 

Dinner at Japanese Home -- Asakusa

 
The photo above is of Kosuke, fiance of my best friend Chiemi.  He and Chiemi, his parents and his brother (all now Chiemi's family too, of course) were cool enough to invite me to a traditional dinner at their home in Asakusa.  It was the first time I'd ever been inside a Japanese house, and the food was great.  This was really the high point of my stay in Tokyo, and I'm so grateful to these people who made me feel welcome and treated me with such warmth. 

 

Photo Shoot with Miyu -- Ebisu

 
I met Miyu for the first time when I was in Japan after originally setting up the shoot through Model Mayhem.  We emailed each other back and forth to set up the details, and the shoot went really well.  Miyu was not only beautiful, but also extremely professional and was just as interested in getting good photos as I was.

The shoot itself was in Yebis Gardens, a relaxed outdoor mall.  It had originally been the site of the Sapporo brewery, and there were still many signs of the plant's former presence.  Not only was there a Sapporo Beer Garden and a Beer Museum, but every single advertisement was for beer.  Naturally, I felt completely at home!!

 

Friday Night Party -- Ebisu

 
After not having seen one another for three years, I finally got together with my best friend Chiemi at Com'inn, a cool English language cafe located a few blocks from the JR station at Ebisu.  The cafe gives parties twice a month, and I was invited to one by Chiemi who was working behind the bar.  If you happen to be in Tokyo, these parties are great places to network and meet with English speaking Japanese.  There were also a handful of Americans present.  Everyone there went out of their way to be welcoming and helpful to me. 

Ebisu is a also a great place to do night photography.  As the Wikipedia article mentions, it is near the entrance to both the JR and Hibiya lines and so has a lot of commuter bars of all types in the immediate vicinity.  On a Friday night, the area was packed.  I took the photos below on the way back to the subway after the party.

 

 

 

 

Hie Jinja Shrine -- Akasaka

 
 
The Hie Jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine located beside a busy throughway in Akasaka.  The shrine is a modern reconstruction of an earlier set of buildings destroyed during WW II bombings.  To those, such as myself, with limited knowledge of Japanese culture, there is something alien and impenetrable in the Shinto iconography on display here.  But there was no attempt to prohibit photography, and I noticed Japanese beside me taking photos as well.

 

 

 

Photo Shoot with Lira -- Asakusa

 
My first photo shoot on this trip to Tokyo was with model Lira whom I had last seen at NYC Fashion Week in February.  Lira brought her cute Yorkie with her to the Asakusa shrine.  We met at Kaminarimon Gate and did a short casual shoot while sightseeing around the shrine.  Afterwards, we went for lunch to Lira's favorite restaurant which was right to the side of the main strip of tourist shops.  The restaurant did not cater to Westerners -- the menu was written entirely in kana -- but the food was excellent.  We had yakitori and steaming pots filled with rice and fish.

 

Inari Shrine -- Akasaka

 
 
Before my first visit to Japan, I had never heard of Inari.  Even now, I don't completely understand its relationship to Shinto and Buddhism.  The shrines themselves are fascinating, though, complete with statues of fox messengers wearing red ceremonial dress.  The shrine where I took these photos is in Akasaka at one corner of the Imperial Residence grounds.  Eventhough located right beside a busy highway,  it is -- like most shrines in Tokyo -- an oasis of tranquility.