A time to reflect

I've been back home for a few days and I've now had the opportunity to decompress and get over my jet lag. I think now is a good opportunity for me to look back on my adventure while everything is still fresh in my mind and reflect what it meant for me to travel to a country so far and so foreign that it is literally on the other side of the world from everything I've ever known. Here's my list, take it for what it's worth:

• Laughter is universal.

• So is smiling.

• Saying "Hello" in english will make a group of school kids' day... in Japan.

• Nonverbal communication can be just as good in a pinch. I played many a game of charades for directions or information. 

• Don't buy new shoes before a trip. I paid for it with pain the rest of the time I was there.

• Pack less than what you think you need. I used about half the clothes I took. In fear of not having enough, I had too much. This goes for photography equipment as well.

• The Japanese people really are that nice and helpful. 

• An iPad is not as good as a laptop. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPad and it's great at what it does (web, email, games, video) but my experiment to use it as a laptop replacement failed miserably. It took me three times longer to edit images and post to my blog and did not have the capability to recover my corrupted card.

• Business is business wherever you go. The rules may be slightly different each place you go but for the most part it boils down to trust and making the customer feel appreciated and happy. Under-promise and Over-deliver.

• Pride: In your country, in your family, in your job, in your team... in everything. I would walk into Family Mart (convenience store) and be greeted to sounds of cheer and appreciation that I chose their store to shop in. ♫ Sumimasen ♫. There were many escalators that were off, the subway was hot, the lights on the Rainbow Bridge weren't lit and many other examples of energy conservation, all out of respect to the earthquake and tsunami crisis.

• No trash cans AND no litter? How can this be? When you go to to Japan, you'd be hard pressed to find trash cans anywhere. At the same time, you'd be hard pressed to find litter either. Pride in your country. There were several occasions where I saw folks picking up trash that was not their own.

• Fight for what you believe in. You may never get another opportunity.

• Did I say smile? : ) Works every time.

Thanks for joining me on my journey!

Tony Llerena

PS - If you've enjoyed reading my blog, please let me know what your favorite part has been either here or on facebook. I still have a lot of images that I'm editing and I'm trying to figure out the best way to put them out for everyone to enjoy.

Day 11 - And all we have left are memories

On our final day in Japan, we had a little time to relax and take in a couple of more sites in Kyoto. One of the most memorable people I met on my trip was Kay. I insisted on capturing a portrait of her and she insisted on letting me know she was too old to be photographed. I would not be denied. This is the same person that insisted on me taking an umbrella when it was raining and was concerned about me when I got back. I gave her the umbrella I bought that day as a gift to remember me by.

The Three Sisters Annex Hotel was a wonderful authentic place to stay. The most unique thing about it is that there's a curfew. The gates close at 11:30 pm and if you're not back in time, you're out of luck. We  all made it back in time every night but we heard rumors that some others on a previous trip were not so lucky.

Our final visit was to the philosopher's walk. From Wikipedia:  The Philosopher's Walk is a pedestrian path that follows a cherry-tree-lined canal in Kyoto, between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji. The route is so-named because the influential 20th century Japanese philosopher and Kyoto University professor Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation. It passes a number of temples and shrines such as Hōnen-in, Ōtoyo Shrine, and Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the walk, although many people spend more time visiting the sights along the way.

There were so many flowers every where we went. Joe in our group was notorious for snapping pictures of just about every new type of flower we passed by.

Most of the animals were extremely domesticated and quite friendly. The three little kitty's were quite content to let me walk right up to them while they were napping so I could take a picture.

After about 22 hours of traveling, back in time mind you, I made it home to my wonderful family waiting for me at the airport. They were a sight for sore eyes. My only wish is that they could have joined me in my journey but my hope is that I was able to "Capture Japan" well enough so they can see what I saw through my lens.

Day 10 - Kampai Nippon

On our final full day in Japan, our group began the day with a trip to a sake brewery. Unfortunately, we made the trip out but were not allowed to actually see the brewing process. However, we were able to visit the museum and sample some fine sake.









One of the things that I find most interesting about Japanese culture, but more specifically advertising, is that everything is laden with cartoon characters. I've found that it doesn't matter the age group of the target audience, there will be some cartoon character or caricature involved.





The big event of the day was the visit to the Imperial Palace. Kyoto was actually the original capital of Japan before the emperor moved it to Tokyo over 100 years ago. The first thing you notice when you enter the palace grounds is that the compound is HUGE. I fell in love with all of the roofs on the temples and palaces. They are extremely intricate and ornate and I can only guess how long it takes to create one of these masterpieces.








Walking through the palace was wonderful. I loved the colors and textures of the buildings. Many temples in Kyoto are painted orange for good luck.





This is one of the gates to get into the palace. You can see how much care was put into every singe structure.


The devil's in the details.











I got lucky that this crane didn't fly away before I could get a shot. He wasn't camera shy since there were at 14 other people trying to get a picture at the same time.














Our day finished with a wonderful dinner in the heart of Kyoto. I can't believe that one of the things I'm going to miss about Japan is the food. Who knew? :)

- Tony Llerena Photography

Please stop reading. This section is for my family.

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Day 9 - Part II

So I may have mentioned this before but I'm an extremely picky eater. I had quite a bit of anxiety about eating in Japan before the trip. Ultimately I made the choice to move outside of my comfort zone and try some new foods that I would NEVER try otherwise. I kept a log for historical purposes. Here's the list:

Shrimp sandwich
Quail egg
Ginko nut
Wrapped squid with penlla leaf
Shiitake mushroom shrimp
Egg plant
Cherry tomato
Asparagus
Haddock
Scallops
Crab
Raw yellow tail
Green chili
Blowfish


- Tony Llerena Photography

Day 9 - A day for new beginnings and golden reflection

Did I say we were slowing down in Kyoto? Well never mind. We have all sorts of things to do and places to see. Our first stop today was a traditional Japanese tea ceremony in which we learned proper tea drinking and serving etiquette, the formal way.


Our host giggled at us pretty much the entire time since we were so terrible at it. There is an art to making good tea and we were probably in the crayon stage.


Luckily we were able to sit at the table and not on the floor since it took us a lot longer than it should have.


Here's Ian whisking the tea, trying to mix the water and tea without creating bubbles.



After you drink the tea, you're supposed to look at the bowl for a few moments out of respect to the host and reflect on the quality of it's craftsmanship. This is very common across


And here's one of the most famous sites in all of Japan, the Golden Palace. The original one was actually burned down but it was rebuilt and in 1987 was recovered in gold leaf. It's actually extremely impressive in person. I can't wait to edit the images at home. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but all of the images so far have been straight out of camera or edited slightly on the iPad 2.





These koi fish were actually pretty funny. They kept on jumping out of the water trying to eat the leaves on the shore.








For lunch we had sushi that is served on a great big carrousel. It was interesting to see how they actually know what food you're grabbing from the line. Apparently, most everything about the system is automated, including the rice portions.


Here's a shot of the carousel.





This is the most well known zen garden in Japan.


The best part of the zen garden was this little guy. He had this funny little scowl the entire time I was sitting next to him.











Can you see the turtles?


You're in for a treat tomorrow. We're going to visit the original Imperial Palace, former capital of Japan!

- Tony Llerena Photography

Please stop reading. This section is for my family.

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DEL - CYEM? IWYB? SIMYC. ILY