A new terror in town!

No, no....not a monster or anything but the terror came in the form of my friend who visited me early this month. And I do mean "terror" in an affectionate way.



Watching my friend trying to become "kawaii" is hilarious seeing that she is anything but kawaii in the Japanese sense of the word.



Our days and nights were filled with walking around (well, she did most of the sight seeing with another friend since I had to go to the lab), shopping and her favourite pastime - drinking! Den-en is the magic fountain of booze for alcohol lovers with their nomihodai course and recently, as we found out, they even have 50% discount off their menu on certain days! Do I hear the thundering running footsteps heading towards Den-en now?



The girl sings Leon Lai songs non-stop, complete with actions and facial expressions, that it is a torture to go to karaoke with her! Joking Lusty! She sang the songs with so much "feel" that it is hilarious! I actually do have a couple of videos of her singing with so much passion! Hmmm, I think this calls for blackmail. Let me see - What do I want?



Well, Kyoto is so much more quieter now that she has gone back home. No more late night singing on the streets, risking the wrath of sleepy residents. No more boisterous Chinese karaoke sessions. No more accosting hapless friends to ask them if they think she is beautiful in French. No more Den-en.



Life is certainly less noisy now but I find that I miss the noise! Come back soon Lusty!

(All the photos were taken with the Contax G2 using the Ilford B&W film)

Fancy becoming a Maiko-san for a day?

Have you ever spotted a Maiko-san or a Geisha (or Geiko as they are called in Kyoto) on the streets of Gion or even Tetsugaku no michi? Well, before you get all excited and started thinking that you have hit a jackpot with the Kyoto treasures, make sure that they are the real deal!



One rule of thumb is that if they are willing to pose for you, chances are, they are just tourists having a fun time dressing up as Maiko-san or Geisha. The true Geisha or Maiko-san are always in a hurry, walking from one tea house to another and nearly always avoiding contact with pesky photographers (guilty!). Your best bet is to wait for them at the "hanamachi" areas.



The only time you would ever get them to pose is when they are with their customers. Otherwise, you would have to hound them like a dog to get a decent picture of them. I have never been up close to a celebrity before but the way the tourists (and occasionally me) surround them with their cameras, which is at the same crazy and funny, gave me an insight as to what it must be like to be near one. No wonder they hate us! I wouldn't want me to take my pictures either if I was a Maiko-san.



But back to the original story of this post, my friend had decided that she wanted to become a Maiko-san for a day. She tried unsuccessfully to persuade me and a couple of others to join her. I backed out because for one, I had no money to spare and two, it I always find it more fun to take their pictures! I had been with my friends before when they had done this two years back and I had written a post on it.



First of all, one has to make a reservation and we did not know that we had to make one three days in advance! So I called them up and concocted a lie, saying that she was just in Kyoto for a day and desperately wanted to do the whole Maiko thing! And we were successful!



The studio is located near Kiyomizudera. There are a couple of plans to choose from, and the prices differ accordingly. You can have professional photographers trailing you around, as you walk about scenic areas, or you could have only 10 minutes outside for "personal photography", which was of course, the cheapest plan at 6900¥.



Unfortunately for the both of us, we could not take pictures inside the building, during the make-up process. It would have been so cool but oh well. Actually, I sneaked in a few shots here and there, before I got caught!



After the make-up process, my friend proceeded to choose her kimono and was dressed up by the staffs. The wig that she had to put on was damn heavy and she had neck pains from just wearing it on her head for a mere 20 minutes or so! Imagine those girls who paid to walk around the area for like an hour! I wonder if you could just sit down somewhere and take the wig off for a bit and then put it back on and continue the journey. It would be unsightly of course, but hey, your neck hurts!



So after dressing up, the girls are ushered into the photo studio for their portrait shots. After that, they are released into the streets full of tourists who are bound to ask them to pose with them. My friend had only ten minutes outside. So we did the best we could. Of course, half the time I was too busy laughing my head off so I had to delete a couple of shots because I could not hold the camera steadily enough for a good portrait shot! My friend is damn funny!



We had so much fun! We did all the poses - the demure ones, the pretty ones, the absolutely-I-am-not-a-Maiko ones. Too bad I can't post some of them here! She will kill me! Haha!



We walked around the area a bit and found a restaurant with a beautiful noren and gate to pose in front of. Spent most of our time there and then walked back to the studio. After just 10 minutes, my friend was complaining of neck pain. I don't envy her!



All in all, it was a good day! We had many shots that we liked and many shots that were hilarious! I am glad that my friend had fun! So if you guys would like to try this one out, then I am glad to be of service! I would not however be persuaded to join to become one as I really do not like having neck pains :).

My new (well, old actually) Contax G2

I have to thank Paul for introducing me to the Contax G2 film camera. It looks good (yes, I am THAT easy) and it has incredible lenses. I had to buy it second hand though because they stopped manufacturing it some time back but thank goodness for the camera shops here in Japan.



So I started off with the B&W film. I have this thing, this obsession with B&W photos which I can't explain. I find myself taking more and more pictures in B&W. To me, when the picture is devoid of colour, it forces you to look at the subject at hand, to pay more attention to it rather than to be distracted by the colours. Of course, there are many times when colour is needed to better enhance the photos i.e. spring.



Unlike my Canon SLR, I cannot simply experiment with the settings just yet so I decided to be a coward (money is the key factor in this decision) and just put the settings on Auto. Ssshhh....!



I took pictures of my friend's graduation with the Contax in B&W and I must say, I really liked how the pictures turned out. They commemorated the occasion in a nostalgic way. Of course, I gave the pictures to my friend, who promptly forgot to take them back home with him! Hmmph! CHAN!!!!



Printing the photos was exciting because I had no idea how they will turn out. The excitement, the anticipation of seeing the photographs! Of course, then the pain of parting with the money for the processing......which, although painful, was satisfying.



So, here are some of the pictures that I took. I have a roll of coloured film in it now and will send it for processing as soon as I am done taking pictures with it!



Yeah, these guys with the bare asses were doing something at the Doshisha University campus, in conjunction with the graduation day. I just had to take their picture!



And I think they were brothers, playing outside the shop while the parents were inside. The little one was adorable and the elder one was just plain good looking!