I Took 30 Photos That Show Why Japan Is A Dream Destination For Street Photographers

Yes, I went to Japan. And in those ten days, I realised one thing: there is no better country to photograph for someone who does street photography, and not only that. I’ve only just started going through the photos I took, and here I’m sharing a small selection, just a small part of the work I did between Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. The truth is, I still have more than 1,200 photos to review, sort out, and edit. It’s going to be a long summer, I think.

What I found was a Japan with two faces. One electric, dynamic and chaotic, made up of saturated, vivid colours. The other was a quieter, more contemplative Japan, filled with old signs, slower rhythms and, who knows, maybe deeper thoughts too. For a photographer, the most frustrating thing is always choosing which road to take: you turn into an alley hoping to find a treasure, never knowing what images you might have found if you had taken a different one instead. But that’s part of the game, and it’s also what makes street photography so exciting.

It brings to mind Koudelka’s famous quote: “When you live in a place for long, you become blind because you do not observe anything. I travel not to go blind”. I can’t wait to discover what other images I brought back from this trip, a trip that, perhaps only now, as I begin to look at it through the photographs, is turning into a new memory.

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