A month in Japan
made me a shutterbug - I took over 2,000 photographs, including these portraits of some of Nippon's 127,433,494 residents. It's difficult to
pinpoint a person's age but I've tried to arrange the 28 images in this
post in ascending age order.
Brothers enjoying natto-maki (fermented soy beans rolled in white rice and wrapped in seaweed) and onigiri (triangles of rice stuffed with a teaspoon of anything you'd like - often last night's leftovers).
"Mother Hen and Happy Chick" bouncing on the Fuah Fuah Dome, Yoshiumi Rose Garden, Ehime.
Mother and son ferry across the Seto Inland Sea.
Public toys and books make waiting enjoyable, Shin-Hanamaki train station, Iwate Prefecture.
Grandpa Mitzie and the apple of his eye, Kei-kun.
Japan is suffering declining birth rates & aging population? Coulda fooled me! Kyoto Station, June 2007.
Patent leather bags are de rigeur for Japan's legions of student athletes, Umeda Station, June 2007.
Getting out of school -- fun for teens the world over.
Scores of young girls buy photos, t-shirts, magnets, hats, anything emblazoned with images of their hearthrobs. Teen idols are Tackey, ne - don't you agree?
Gift shop jeweler, Saga Arashiyama.
Japanese Homies - New York rappers set the world standard for urban hip -- yeah boyeeeeeeeeee!
Back on solid ground after the Hanshin-Awaji Daishinsai (the cataclysmic January, 1995 earthquake), the city of Kobe is now known for its youthful population.
Inexplicable to Western eyes, pachinko draws Japanese fanatics of every stripe.
Fortunately Micki, my wife, only went so far as to model this $900 hat at Tokyo's answer to New York's Bergdorf Goodman, Takashimaya.
It's nigh on impossible to find a Japanese person without a cellphone.
Tourleaders scouting and pointing the way - there's so much to see and do in this isolated island nation, it often seems there are more Japanese tourists than foreigners.
Old friends meet by chance in rural Tzuchizawa - a town so small most Japanese haven't heard of it.
More than mere flour and water, a lifetime of love and tradition is rolled into every strand of this dedicated chef's ramen noodles.
masks and costumes "Made in Japan."
There's no telling how long this bird-loving Buddha's been around, but homelessness is an age-old concern for compassionate people everywhere. One thing is certain, there's a great deal of the dignity built into the Japanese language:
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