色々な人々

This blog entry is about the people of Japan. It is an entry of few words, because the pictures mainly speak for themselves. But I will give you some context to go along with the photos. These are all pictures I have taken of people, sometimes, but not always, with their consent. I call it my "stalker" blog, and I've been accumulating these pictures since day one, but they are some of my absolute favorites from Japan. I feel that they capture so much about the society. A picture really is worth a thousand words.

三人乗り

This is a mother and her children bicycling. As I've told you, I bicycle pretty much everywhere, but so does most of Japan. Bicycles are everywhere, helmets are not. The only helmets I have seen have been on serious cyclists with other fancy cycling gear, but never on the general population, which includes children. Sometimes I am appalled, for instance when Amber told me she saw a young boy sitting in a seat like one of these fall out and hit his head on the concrete. The mother in that case pulled the boy up by his ear and scolded him for not sitting properly rather than checking his injuries. But it is just one of those things that one simply has to accept about the culture here, that helmet laws have never existed, and as such, the culture is not at all in the habit of wearing them.

父親と息子

 This was a beautiful moment when I stumbled upon a father teaching his son to ride a bicycle for the first time. This photo was captured at the moment when he first was able to keep his balance and ride down the stretch of gravel.

水

 A cute toddler playing with the water of a public fountain.

おばあさんとかさ

An older woman sitting and taking in the sounds of nature in a park on a drizzly day.

魚と男の人

 Fishes at the aquarium approaching a disabled man in a wheelchair. The man smiled and laughed and made the world brighter with his happiness.

女の子

 A young girl looking inquisitively at clownfish.

はしで食べます

A little girl eating precariously with her chopsticks. She hasn't yet mastered the art, but she'll get there.

警察

 A police man on duty outside on a rainy night in Kobe's Chinatown.

練習

A Chinatown dragon dancer, practicing before putting on his dragon head.

ピンク

 Your typical, young Japanese woman, decked out in the latest fashions, carrying purse, umbrella, shopping bags, and cellphone complete with jingling charms.

急いで

A young Japanese restaurant worker rushing around Chinatown at closing time.

てつだてあげる

 An old man helping his wife up the stairs to Kibune temple.

昼寝

 This picture above is one of my favorites. It was taken at Kurama Temple (stay tuned for that blog entry tomorrow), where I sat and ate lunch after a long hike. These women were having quite a lively conversation next to me as I ate, but simultaneously nodded off in the sun after several minutes.

ボース

 Even stylish city-slickers love taking in the sights of nature in Japan. See above (young hipster) and below ("salary man" or white-collar worker after a long day's work).

サラリーマン

Children playing with bubbles in the street before twilight.

あそびましょう

Young elementary school children in uniform on their way home from school. All students wear uniforms through the end of high school in Japan, and you can tell the ages based on the type of uniform. These boys are not only dressed in the elementary school clothing, but are wearing the traditional randoseru, a type of elementary school backpack. Girls traditionally wear red ones, while boys have black. They are stiff, leather backpacks that were brought over from the Netherlands around two centuries ago.

勉強しましょう

Old men seem to often fish as a hobby. Around any and every body of water, you can find old men sitting and waiting for fish to catch their bait. They're also really friendly and most of the time perfectly willing to strike up a conversation with a passing foreigner (namely, me) anytime.

つりしましょう

These people are amazing. I still find myself thoroughly amazed sometimes that I am here, actually witnessing these people going about their daily lives. And while these pictures definitely capture a lot of what it means to be a Japanese person, the camera can't fully contain the magic that it is for me to be here in Japan living alongside these people everyday. It's such a blessing, and I'm still happily soaking up every minute of it!