The world is so Kalandrakas...

Photowalk in Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park

jesslee — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:12:07 +0000

The Flickr Tokyo Photo Session (FTPS) group had last month’s photo walk in Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park in Minami-Azabu, Tokyo. [Map]

History
Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park was originally the urban villa of a feudal lord, Minonokami Nambu. In 1896 it was acquired by the noble Arisugawa-no-miya family. However, as Japan modernized, more and more importance began to be placed on the role of nature in educating children, and the family donated the land to Tokyo city in 1934 as a park for that purpose.Tokyo city set to work redeveloping it, and Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park was born in the same year. In 1975, the Tokyo metropolitan authority transfered the administration of the park to the local ward office of Minato. (Source: japanvisitor.com)

–

Father and son on a small bridge in the park.

–

A bike is parked near the stream.

–

Ume, or the Japanase plum, has started to bloom.

–

Just me playing with reflection on the pond.

–

The FTPS group walking in the park.

–

Group photo by ndavid .

–

Click here if you are interested in joining the future photo walks by FTPS.

Novena Mass in Basilica del Sto. Niño Church

jesslee — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:00:05 +0000

Basilica del Santo Niño is a 16th century church in Cebu City in the Philippines. It is known to be the oldest church in the Philippines. It was built on the exact spot where the image of the Santo Niño, a sculpture depicting the Holy Child Jesus was founded by Spanish explorers in 1565 preserved in a burned wooden box which was left behind during the 1521 Magellan expedition. –Wikipedia

I went to visit the church during its 2nd day of novena for the celebration of the Feast of Santo Niño, or popularly known as the Sinulog.

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January. The festival honors the so called vision of the child Jesus, known as the Santo Niño (Holy Child), who used to be the patron Saint of the City of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano peoples Islamic and pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism. –Wikipedia

Here are some of the photos I took inside and outside the church.

A vendor taking a break from selling candles.
I thought at first she was praying, but look closely…

–

Sto. Niño images being sold along the sidewalk.
FYI: The Santo Niño was given by Magellan to the chieftain of Cebu, Rajah Humabon (Carlos), and Hara Amihan (Juana) in 1521.

–

Devotees wave their arms as they sing “Batobalani sa Gugma” (Magnet of Love)
Because the number of devotees keep increasing over the years, a pilgrim center was built within the church compound opposite of the Basilica and Holy Mass is celebrated on Fridays and other Religious Festivities are held here in the open-air, theater-like structure.

–

A close up shot of the devotees singing “Batobalani sa Gugma”

–

A devotee raising an image of the Sto. Niño as he struggles to go near the pilgrim center.

–

Next, I will post some photos I took during the Sinulog festival last 2007. (Too bad I missed the festival for three straight years.)

Christmas Illumination in Tokyo

jesslee — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:00:21 +0000

Japan, as a non-Christian country, does not celebrate Christmas. December 25th is not a national holiday. But Japanese people, as great lovers of festivals and celebrations, try to celebrate it in a commercial way. Local government and big companies decorate parks and buildings with colorful illumination.

Last Saturday, I went to Tokyo Midtown, Shiodome, and Tokyo Tower to see the illuminations in these places. (Click here to check where you can see more illuminations).

Grass Square “Starlight Garden” in Tokyo Midtown

Illuminated balls in Sakura-dori in Tokyo Midtown

Capturing the sea of illumination in Caretta, Shiodome.

Also, Christmas in Japan is a perfect day to spend with your lover.

Caretta OCEAN Xmas 2009 in Shiodome

Tokyo Tower’s Light Down Story

0-0-0
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

–Jesslee

Autumn Illumination at Rikugien Garden

jesslee — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:00:25 +0000

Rikugien Garden, in Bunyo-ku, Tokyo, is one of the best-preserved Japanese landscape gardens of the Edo period. The name, Rikugi-en, came from “six elements of Waka poems” that had been derived from “six styles of poems” written in the old Chinese poetry book “Mao-shi”.

The garden is most beautiful in the autumn season because trees are being illuminated with colorful lights at night. Last Sunday, I, with the the FTPS group, visited the garden and it was awesome.

iMorpheus taking a photo of a couple in the garden using a keitai.

The garden has everything a traditional Japanese garden is supposed to: a large central pond, teeming with golden carps and sluggish turtles, fantastical islands, crooked rustic bridges over gurgling streams, man made hills, symbolizing the sacred Japanese mountains, and moss-encrusted stone lanterns. Along the path that goes round the pond, 88 landscapes from famous Japanese poems are reproduced in miniature. — Tokyo Japan Guide

A lot of people flock there to take pictures of the colorfully-illuminated momiji trees.

And, of course, take photos of themselves with the illumination as background.

Also, a few stop-by the traditional wooden teahouses, hidden among the majestic trees, to have some light snacks, sweets and tea.

A Hundred Smiles

jesslee — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:51:17 +0000

:-)

A Hundred Smiles is a collaborative project of two photographers, Paulette Waltz and yours truly. On the 11th of July 2009, we were roaming around central Tokyo, bringing our frames, stopping by people, and asking them one question: “What makes you smile?”, then *snap*!

I was inspired to do this project after my good friend-photographer, Carlo Nicora, made his Thousand Portraits in Britain. It was really a challenge, not only as a photographer, but also an individual who wants to share the positivity to others.

One day, I met up with Paulette. I talked about the project I wanted to do, and a great brainstorming happened right there. The frame is Paulette’s wonderful idea. Two heads are better than one, indeed.

This project will continue to expand as this is going worldwide. We are going to invite other photographers all around the world to do the same, and gather all photos/smiles in one site, that is A Hundred Smiles.

The photos shown on this blog entry are my top 5 photos. I hope they bring a little smile on you. Please visit the site for more smiles.

If you want to be involved in this project, you can contact me or send an email to info[at]ahundredsmiles[dot]com.

Keep smiling.

:-)

The World of Harajuku

jesslee — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:15:59 +0000

Harajuku – one of the most visited places in Tokyo. The place where you can see the most extreme (weirdest and cutest) teenage fashion styles. The styles include punk, goth, lolita, ganguro, and others. Also, cosplays happen here every weekend, mostly on Sundays.

Below are some of the photos I took two years ago.
Note: I used to over-process photos when I was starting photography. ^_^

Halloween in Japan: Kawaii or Kowai?

jesslee — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:06:27 +0000

The annual Kawasaki Halloween Parade this year was held on October 31st. It is said to be one of the biggest Halloween parades in Japan. It was my second time to see the parade and I’m still quite impressed with the participants. Their costumes were amazing. They can described as either ‘kawaii’ or ‘kowai’.

In Japan, ‘kawaii’ means ‘cute’, and ‘kowai’ is ’scary’. (Be careful when you try to use them. You don’t want to get yourself embarrassed after mistakenly saying ‘kowai’ to a cute little Japanese kid, instead of saying ‘kawaii’).

The Mario Family. Kawaii ne~!

Screams. Uwa~, kowai~!

HEAD, HEad, head Yeah, it looks kowai, but it has some kawaii-ness. :p

The mummy is belong to us! The baby is so kawaii~~ ^_^

Zoombie chick. I’m gonna cut your head off if you say she’s kawaii.

Sweet Butterfly. Hands off, humanz. She’s mine. Kawaii ne!

The Sassy Vamp Princess

jesslee — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:43:55 +0000

Princess Manzon, the Sassy Vamp, is one of the housemates of Pinoy Big Brother Double Up.

I had a chance to do a photo shoot with her before she left Tokyo for the show’s final casting. The shoot was spontaneous. It was past 2:00am, right after our karaoke session in Roppongi.

I’ve only known Princess for three months but, coming from the same province, Cebu, in the Philippines, we’ve developed a quite solid friendship.

I know she’s gonna do great in the show. I personally wish her goodluck!!!

******************************************
Here’s how you can show your support to Princess:
* Become a Fan on Facebook.
* Follow her on Twitter.
******************************************

Early Morning in the Sleepless Town

jesslee — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:49:24 +0000

Two weekends ago, I, with 3 photo buddies, had an early morning photowalk again. This time in Kabukicho at around 5:30 in the morning.

Kabukichō is an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabukichō is the location of many hostess bars, host bars, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the “Sleepless Town”. The district’s name comes from late-1940s plans to build a kabuki theater: although the theater was never built, the name stuck. — Wikipedia

There are still nanpa activities in this early morning. A nanpa is a way to pick up girls in Japan. To know how it works, check Nampa – Japanese for Picking Up by Neil Duckett.

We walked through Shinjuku Golden Gai and we could still hear people laughing while having some chat inside the shanty-style bars and clubs. Learn more about the Golden Gai here: Old-world left in a Big City, Shinjuku’s Golden-gai

Kabukicho is a notorious place known for a lot of illegal activities like prostitution, illegal drug trafficking, and other crimes. A number of business establishments here are owned by yakuzas and Chinese triads. The photo below is the most famous police box throughout Japan for having been featured a couple of times in TV documentary shows.

Thanks to my friends: Mika, Kyoko, and Naoto for joining me in this walk.

Hamaorisai Festival in Chigasaki

jesslee — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:22:28 +0000

Hamaorisai Festival is held annually at Nishihama Beach in Chigasaki City. This is a summer festival where people take the mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrine, into the sea to please the god living in it. This year’s festival was held on the 20th of July, which is also the Umi-no-Hi (or the Ocean Day).

The festival starts very early in the morning at 4:00am.

A portrait of a man waiting for his group to take the mikoshi into the water.

The waves is one of the challenging aspects of this festival.

There’s been a “competition” among the shrines. Each group tries to be the one to go the farthest and longest out to the sea.

After all the mikoshis are taken into the water, they are lined up and blessed by offering fruits and vegetables.

This festival is one of the most challenging photoshoots I’ve had. I got soaked and almost drop my camera into the water.

I would like to thank Levi for inviting and offering his place for us to stay overnight.