Miyajima

I don’t believe in love at first site, but after spending 8 hours exploring Itsukushima Island, commonly referred to as Miyajima (shrine island), I fell in love with this place. Miyajima is designated as one of the three most beautiful places in all of Japan. And I must concur.

Despite the hundreds of tourists that were sharing my newfound treasure, there was still a sense of serenity. Perhaps it was the feeling of accomplishment after the hike to the top of Mt. Misen and the panoramic view it offered. Or maybe the deer that have grown accustomed to visitors and will come up to you in search of food. I can’t really explain it. It’s just one of those places you have to experience yourself to gain a full understanding of the mystique the island offers.

Located in the Inland Sea in the southwest portion of Hiroshima Prefecture, Miyajima Island is a revered sacred destination where it is illegal to chop down a tree or bury the dead. The island is home to Itsukushima Shrine, which was first built in 593 and was recognized as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1996.

As the ferry approaches Miyajima, you are greeted by the most recognizable landmark, the 50 foot tall otorii (great gate) that marks the entrance to Itsukushima Shrine. At high tide, it appears to float on the water and at low tide, you can walk up and touch it. So how many ways can you shoot a torii? If you’re me, quite a few!


It was a day trip and my main goal was to get one great shot of the otorii. My favorite shot came after the sun had set and most of the tourists had gone home. While most people tend to capture the beautiful red, orange and yellow hues of sunset, I like to stick around for when the sky turns blue and purple. I added a little fill flash to bring out the detail in the pine tree and stone lantern.

There isn’t a boat load of things to do on the island, but that is part of the charm of this sacred place. You can walk through Itsukushima Shrine, peruse the shops in the Omotesando area, visit the Miyajima Aquarium, take the ropeway (aerial tram) up the mountain to see the monkeys and hike to the top of Mt. Misen. If you're really adventurous, you can hike down and see several more shrines along the way.


But before you leave the island, you have to pick up a box (or two) of momiji manju, a Japanese pastry filled with red bean paste, custard or chocolate. Yum!

I plan to go back in the fall when the hills are a sea of red from the changing colors of the red maple trees. After all, when you're in love, you shouldn't stay away for too long.

Obama, Japan : inauguration

if you read my story about covering the Obama inauguration in Japan on sportsshooter.com then you can pretty much skip this blog entry unless you want to see more photos. other than that, the text is exactly the same.

Since I was already heading to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan to do some research on my hibakusha project , I decided to take a side trip and be somewhere different for the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States. It was surely going to be a historical event so rather than be one of a thousand journalists, I thought it would be great to be somewhere I could get a completely different perspective. So I made arrangements to be in Obama, Japan.

It was a crazy idea since I had a late assignment on Saturday night and it takes almost half a day just to get to Japan, another 5 hours to get to Obama from my friend’s apartment and they are already 17 hours ahead of the west coast. But I have never claimed to be sane. So I boarded my flight Sunday and arrived in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, spent the night at my friend’s apartment and jumped on the first train out of Tokyo station and 4.5 hours later, I was in Obama, Japan before noon.

After dumping my bags at my hotel I wandered the streets to see what I could find that was related to the soon-to-be-President Barack Obama. I went to the tourist information center just outside of the train station to get a map (in English) and found out there was a local gift store, Wakasaya, that sold “I Love Obama” omiyage (O-mee-YAH-ge : souvenirs). Cool! So off I went.

When I arrived, a Japanese photographer was shooting pictures of the omiyage. The selection was quite interesting. There were the usual t-shirts and stickers with the “I Love Obama” logo printed on them, but there were also hashi (chopsticks), hachimakis (headbands), senbei (rice cookies), manju (rice cakes) and bread-in-a-can. What? Bread-in-a-can? I still don’t understand that one, but it does exist.


Outside, a news crew was interviewing Sara Wall, an American from Santa Barbara, Calif., who was traveling through Asia for six months and decided to come to Obama for the inauguration. She said if McCain/Palin had won, she was not going back home until they were out of office. I guess lucky for her, she can go home whenever she wants.

Shortly after interviewing her, the TV crew interviewed the store owner, Tatsuya Sano, who is a big supporter of the Obama for Obama tourism campaign. Shoko Hashinaga, a reporter for TV Kanazawa donned an Obama mask and wielded a suit-on-a-stick while she interviewed Sano-san. It was obviously a very lighthearted interview.


Since I was semi-officially on an assignment with two newspapers interested in publishing my Obama story story, I had my friend in Tokyo arrange an interpreter for me so that I could get a Japanese perspective. I speak some Japanese, but not enough to fully understand a native speaker. So I met my interpreter at the train station and her friend drove us to the celebration at the Hagaji Temple 20 minutes away.

A funny thing happened on the way to the temple. The map I had wasn’t exactly drawn to scale nor did it accurately display the roads. You guessed it, we got lost. So as we’re driving around trying to find our way, I learned that my interpreter is a Japanese American from Michigan who was teaching English at a local junior high school and doesn’t really speak Japanese. Huh? Well, that is not going to help me with my interviews. Apparently some things got lost in translation between me, my friend, the vice principal and the interpreter.

And it gets better. After we finally arrive at our destination, she says that she is tired and she and her friend were going to go back home. Huh? I didn’t say it out loud, but I was thinking to myself how the heck are we (Sara and I) going to get back to Obama?

Well, I couldn’t really worry about that. I had other things to worry about. I was late and missed the beginning of the celebration and had some catching up to do. My new problem was everyone talks too fast for me and I wouldn’t be able to piece together enough Japanese to understand anything they were saying. Minor detail! Did I mention that I was doing double duty as both the writer and the photographer? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so hopefully I can at least make a good snap.

Luckily, my friend in Tokyo got an advance copy of the evenings events and translated them for me, so at least I knew the schedule of the events. Fireworks, hula dances by the Obama Girls and Boys and the ringing of the peace bell were on my list of things to shoot.

I had missed most of the speakers, so perhaps being late was a blessing. Up next were the fireworks. Cool. Fireworks usually make good pictures. Everyone then turns around and looks back toward the city. Darn! There are trees blocking the view and the bursts are a mile away and are just specks through the tree branches. Crap! One photo-op down the drain. Next up, the ringing of the peace bell.

I still didn’t have a picture showing the crowd, so I positioned myself behind the bell looking back towards the TV crews and the people surrounding the bell with a corner of the temple in the background. It’s clean, simple and gave a sense of place. Then someone walked around to my side and stands in my frame. My clean shot was gone, but at least they were wearing an “I Love Obama” hapi coat, so it actually helped make it a better picture. Yay for me!


The Obama Girls and Boys were next. They’re important because of President Obama’s Hawaiian upbringing and one of the newspapers running the story was the Honolulu Star Bulletin . I make some decent photos of their performance and then the celebration is over.


For me, it’s crunch time. I had to find a Japanese who spoke English! My first instinct was to approach the Obama Girls because I had questions about their hula performance and since they listened to Hawaiian music, I was hoping one of them spoke English. After asking 4 or 5 of them, I finally found someone who spoke pretty good English. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a heck of a lot better than my Japanese.

Next on the agenda, find an American. Sara was out, since I came with her. Enter Ashley Hayes, my angel in disguise, who happens to be an African American who works in Nagano and is bilingual. Jackpot! I got an African American perspective, she was able to find me another English speaking Japanese person and later on, she would serve as my interpreter at the inauguration viewing party. Woo hoo!

She really did turn out to be our angel because we got a ride back to Obama with her friend that she came with, but only after we lifted her friend’s car out of a ditch that she drove into when she parked her car. At least we were in Japan and her car was the size of a Mini Cooper and not a Hummer.

As we were driving back to Obama, I found out the real reason why my interpreter didn’t want to stay for the celebration. It turns out that Alcillena Wilson, Ashley’s friend who's car we just un-ditched, knew my interpreter and told me that my interpreter is a hardcore Republican and can’t stand Obama. So rather than suffer through the agony of an Obama celebration, she feigned fatigue in order to save face and not be subjected to any Obama questioning. It all makes sense now!

The last thing on the agenda was the inauguration viewing party at Hotel Sekumiya. Since noon Eastern time was 2am Japan time, I had several hours to kill before the viewing party, so I headed back to my hotel to start writing my story and editing photos.

After a few hours of work, I headed over to the viewing party. There were about 15 people seated around a flat screen tv in the hotel lobby watching the live telecast. The four Americans, Sara, Ashley, Alcillena and Lucia Brea, sat in the front row with a flag on their laps and Obama on their shirts. There were plenty of cheers, flag waving and spontaneous chants of “O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!” There were probably just as many media people documenting this momentous occasion as there were celebrants.


It was quite the experience to see not only Americans but also Japanese truly excited about the events that took place that day half-way around the world in Washington, D.C. They stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to watch an American president get sworn in halfway around the world.

We really do live in a small world. What happens in America affects what happens in Japan. Japan is also suffering an economic recession. The Japanese people, not just in Obama, but all over the country, are hopeful that President Barrack Obama can do something that will not only change America, but change the world.

hiroshima : the story of sadako sasaki

While doing my research on Hiroshima, there was a sad yet inspiring story that I came across. The story of Sadako Sasaki.

On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima killing over 70,000 people instantly, an estimated 140,000 by the end of the year and injuring countless others.

Sadako survived. She was two years old and a mile away when the bomb was dropped. Ten years later, she developed leukemia, as did many other survivors. While undergoing treatment, Sadako began folding origami cranes.

Japanese legend says that a crane lives for a thousand years and is one of three holy beasts. By folding a thousand cranes, the legend promises that you will be granted one wish. Sadako believed that if she folded a thousand cranes, she would be healed and free of the leukemia.

As she continued to fold more and more cranes, they became smaller and smaller. Some were folded using needles and had less than a half-inch wingspan. The number of cranes was no longer important as each was instilled with her hope to live.


On October 25, 1955, Sadako Sasaki passed away at the age of 12.

Sadako’s story has become an inspiration to children and people around the world. Her classmates began a crane folding campaign in remembrance of her life. Soon children across the country and around the world were folding cranes in memory of Sadako with the hope that there would be peace throughout the world.

Her friends and classmates wanted to do more, so they raised money to build a monument in remembrance of Sadako and all the other children who died as a result of the bombing and their hope for peace in the world. “This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in this world.” is inscribed on a plaque at the base of the the Children's Peace Monument.


Today, thousands of cranes are sent from around the world and brought to the Children’s Peace Monument and left in display cases at the base of the monument.

While my trip to Hiroshima was mainly to do research for my hibakusha project , I do have to eat and since I was there on the weekend and I couldn’t meet with anyone, I did take some time to do some sightseeing.

Of course you have to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Memorial Park. The photos, displays, monuments and wealth of information is an eye-opening experience. Textbooks don't even come close to describing the living hell that Hiroshima became after the bombing. The death and destruction is unimaginable, but this scale model helps put it into perspective.


At the very end of the tour, there are video presentations where you can sit and hear first hand accounts of the bombing and the aftermath that followed from people who survived the blast. It is my hope to add more personal accounts from hibakusha living in the US, Japan, Korea and other parts of the world to the museum's archives.

While I was out exploring the city, I ventured upon a cute little café along the bank of the Kyobashigawa River – the Oyster Conclave. Hiroshima is know for it’s oysters, so your darn right I was going to try some. I elected for the oyster lunch set which included oyster soup, oyster rice, oyster salad, pan fried oyster, oyster canape and of course a raw oyster. Yum!


Another thing Hiroshima is known for is okonomiyaki. I don’t know exactly how to describe what this is, (a Japanese tostada?) so when all else fails, take a picture.


While neither one disappointed, the oysters were unbelievably flavorful and delicious and I am told that winter time is the best time for eating oysters. Oishikatta!

Stay tuned for part 3…my trips to Miyajima and Obama.

project hibakusha : a personal journey...

it's 5:45 in the morning and i can't sleep. i'm not sure if it's because i have ten million things going through my brain or because my body clock is all screwed up since returning from my trip to Japan and is lost somewhere in the pacific ocean. either way, i'm up and can't go to sleep!

my trip to Japan was in one word - incredible. amazing, fabulous and inspiring would work too. it was another whirlwind tour, my schedule wasn't quite as crazy as my midwest tour, but it was pretty close. i went to Tokyo, Obama, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and back to Tokyo in 13 days. this is my third trip to Japan, but my first trip outside of Tokyo. whoever thought of the JR Rail Pass is a genius!!!

while my first stop was Obama to do a story on the inauguration celebration there (i'll write about the Obama story in my next post), the main reason for my trip was to do research for my hibakusha project documenting the stories of the atomic bomb survivors.

after staying up all night filing my story and cramming in as much travel info as i could in a day in Obama, it was off to Nagasaki to visit the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum (NABM) and the Nagasaki Peace Park.

i had four minutes between connections in Hakata (Fukuoka) to catch the last train to Nagasaki. thank goodness trains in Japan run like clockwork and the gate agents know the schedules and platform numbers without even blinking. after 10 hours of riding the rails and a short taxi ride, i finally made it to my hotel just before midnight.

the next morning was cold, overcast and dreary which fit the mood for the things i was about to experience. i hopped on the tram and found my way to Peace Park and Hypocenter Park where the Hypocenter Monolith stood at ground zero.

on August 9, 1945, 500 meters above the monolith, the second atomic bomb was detonated, killing roughly 75,000 innocent men, women and children and injuring another estimated 75,000 people. everything within a 2.5 kilometer radius was destroyed.

as i stood there in silence and full of emotions, i couldn't imagine what that day must have been like, or the days and years that followed for those who survived. the trip to the NABM would soon answer some of those questions, but yet, so many remain. who were these people? what did they do? why the need for a second bomb?

after venturing over to Peace Park and seeing the Peace Statue and many of the 50+ statues and memorials on display, i spent the rest of the day at the NABM meeting people and looking through old photos of Nagasaki before and after the bombing.

i was surprised with the access i was given to people and photos considering i had no appointment, didn't know anybody and spoke little japanese. everyone was so accommodating. i spent so much time there, i didn't even make it to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims which was right next door. not to worry though, i'll be going back.

the next day i was off to Hiroshima, where i actually had some meetings arranged thanks to Kaz Suyeishi, a hibakusha living in Torrance, who has been so helpful with this project and gave me the names and email addresses of people that spoke english. without her help, i don't think i could have accomplished half of what i did on this trip.

i had four days to spend in Hiroshima, mostly because of the timing and not being able to meet with people over the weekend. the pace was a little more relaxed visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

the Flame of Peace burns on, never to be extinguished until all nuclear warheads are destroyed, and a warm glow bathes the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Survivors. visitors from near and far pause and pay their respects at the Cenotaph, where the names of every person who has died as a result of the bombing is kept. every year on August 6th during the Peace Memorial service, the crypt is opened, and the names of those who have passed away the preceding year are added and sealed away.

while much of my experience in Hiroshima was not as moving as Nagasaki, perhaps because Nagasaki prepared me for Hiroshima, a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims brought the whole experience close to home and left me yearning for more answers.

inside is the name of every person who died as the result of the bombing. you can search through the names and see a picture and profile information. my paternal grandfather emigrated from Hiroshima before the war, so i have family i have never met in the area. out of curiosity, i searched the registry and found out that six of my relatives were listed there. i knew the possibility existed, but seeing their names and faces on the screen was a little more than i was prepared for.

this project has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning, a whole new purpose. it is sooooo much more personal now. despite its enormity, there is no possible way i can stop now. the journey has begun.

i feel extremely grateful and lucky to have met many people on this trip that are just as dedicated as i am to telling the stories of the hibakusha. because of their support, their willingness to help (because there is no way i can do this on my own) and this new found connection of the bombings to my family, as unfortunate as that may be, i feel like this is what my 43 years of existence has led me to.

the 25 years of taking pictures and the countless hours volunteering and helping others has trained me well for the road ahead. i still don't know where my journey will lead, but i'll never know unless i go. so go i must.

digital is not cheaper...

you want it for what? free?

while many people see the digital age of photography as the greatest thing since sliced bread, i on the other hand, as well as many of my other photography colleagues, think otherwise.

while there are indeed some great benefits to digital - faster turn around, greater retouching abilities and instant gratification - the flip side is at what cost does this convenience come with? i'm not just speaking dollars and cents. i'm also talking about the deterioration of the industry as a whole (which i'll address in another entry).

there are so many negative sides that i really don't know where to start...or where the end is. one of the biggest misconceptions is that because it's digital, it's cheaper.

let me say this loud and clear...DIGITAL IS NOT CHEAPER!!!

while there are no film and processing costs and digital media keeps getting cheaper and cheaper, people often forget that professional photographers need to upgrade their equipment a lot more often.

back in the film days, i used the same two camera bodies and five lenses for over 10 years. fast-foward to digital. in just over 5 years, i have upgraded my camera bodies twice and my computer twice. thankfully, i have been able to use the same lenses. my laptop, however, is due for an upgrade within the year. add to that the cost of software and upgrades. as you can imagine, this will all add up into the 5 digit zone. give me back those film and processing charges...at least clients were willing to pay for those!

as a result of this digital-is-cheaper mentality, people tend to want it for less...or worse yet, free. people seem to think that because there are no real tangible costs to copying or transmitting digital files that they shouldn't have to pay for them.

think again.

while there may not be any tangible costs involved, there is still intrinsic value within each digital file. after all, if someone wants to use it, then it should have value.

a colleague of mine sent me this youtube video, which led to me to write this blog entry. although he's talking about a video interview, i think screenwriter Harlan Ellison pretty much covers the notion of giving your stuff away and why people shouldn't expect it for free.


any questions?

on the road...part 3...

this is the third (and final) part of what i sometimes referred to to my friends as my 'midwest tour'. it had been four years since my last trip to the midwest, so i decided to take advantage of the work assignment by staying an extra week and see my friends that live in the area. another perk of traveling for work. if i didn't travel for work, i wouldn't get to see a lot of people that i know.

first stop, Dayton, OH. while Dayton isn't exactly a tourist hot spot (but my friend John sure likes to talk like it is), i like to visit Dayton because of that fact. little traffic, clean air and a sense of safety. of course, if John and his family didn't live there, i would never go there, but that's besides the point.

the highlight of Dayton isn't the Wright Museum, but playing with the kids. sorry John and Ellen, it's all about the kids. it's amazing how much they grow up in four years. the last time i was there, Matthew could barely talk and Brooke was still in a cradle. now Matthew is throwing spirals and Brooke is on her way to becoming the mini golf queen.

i elected to drive because it's cheaper and i get to see the different sights and small towns along the way. did you know that Mexico is located just a half mile off of highway 31 in Indiana?


hitting the road lets me see things that i wouldn't normally get to see. like the Point Betsie Lighthouse


or the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes


but the best part is hanging out with my friends. i even got to see an old friend that i haven't seen in over 15 years! she found me on facebook. so i got to meet her husband and two kids and explore the small town of Holland, Michigan. something i would have never thought of doing if she didn't live there.

the final stop of my midwest tour was Chicago. it has been over 10 years since i last went to Chicago. a few things have changed, but much is the same. the difference now is that i have a friend with local knowledge to show me around! nothing beats local knowledge. especially when it comes to local cuisine.

if you like vodka and you like spicy, you gotta try the Horseradish Vodka at the Russian Tea Time or any of their 50+ house flavored and premium vodkas. it packs a hell of a kick! or if you need a snack, Wow Bao should do the trick. this ain't your typical bao from sam woo's. spicy kung pao chicken, thai curry chicken or spicy mongolian beef are da bomb! and nothing beats a Bailey's and hot chocolate at the Signature Room Lounge located on the 95th floor high atop the Hancock building with it's breathtaking city view. sorry, i didn't bring my camera. shocking, i know.

this is a reflection of my friend (and tour guide extraordinaire) Wendy and I in the Cloud Gate sculpture aka: 'the Bean' designed by Anish Kapoor.


it's a very interesting sculpture. if you go underneath and look up at your reflection, it's difficult to figure out which one is you. unless you cheat, like i did, and use the flash on your camera, then you discover that there are more than 30 reflections of yourself!


while we were at Millenium Park checking out the Bean, i told Wendy i wanted to go check out the train station that i heard in the distance toward the lake. what i thought was a nearby train station turned out to be just the sounds of a train station blaring from a multitude of speakers mounted to the arches that criss-cross over the grassy field at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.


Wendy and i got a good laugh out of that.

so in addition to going to Raleigh, South Bend and Pittsburgh for work, i managed to see my friends in Dayton, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Holland (MI) and Chicago for fun. so even though traveling can be a pain the butt, sometimes it can also be a trip to remember. hopefully it won't be another four years for the next midwest tour.

happy travels!