Japan Photo Guide

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and enjoy the photos from Japan!

Another year, another contest! Thank you to everyone who participated! I wish I could give something to everyone…. maybe next year! Last year I was only giving away one prize of $50 but this year there are three winners. Grand Prize is $209 by way of PalPay. 2nd Prize will get two 8×10″ photos of your choice from my gallery and 3rd Prize will get one 5×7″ photo of your choice from my gallery. And the winners are… Read the rest of this entry and see more photos »

Even though I am about as far away from Japan as possible, I am super excited about the 2009 cherry blossom season! Partly because it looks like I will be able to make it to Washington DC to see the cherry blossoms blooming in 2009! Yay! In any case, to get everyone excited, here is a short video slideshow with some of my favorite cherry blossom photos from my stay in Japan. Make sure you turn up the volume, but put on some headphones if you are at work! Enjoy!

There are two wonderful and exciting things about February in Japan. First is the Sapporo Snow Festival, and the second is the cherry blossom forecast! The forecast has not been released yet, but usually the first one is released in the middle of, or late February. Check back again as I will post information as soon as I find it is available. Until then, check out some cherry blossom photos from years past!

_____
Edited on February 25th.
_____

Here is the latest forecast from Tenki.jp! Looks like things will be a little early this year with Tokyo and Kyoto around March 25th.

Kawasaki is about a 20 minute train ride from Tokyo Station and is between Tokyo and Yokohama. I was only there for about half a day, but to be honest, I wasn’t too impressed. I guess to be fair though, half a day really isn’t enough for anything except for a first impression. Kawasaki has a population of over 1 million, but to me it feels like it is smaller. Kawasaki is not as trendy as some places in Tokyo, it still has its share of “Tokyoesque” architecture, shopping centers and so on.

If you are just visiting Japan for a limited amount of time, Kawasaki should probably not make your shortlist of places to see in Tokyo/Japan, but if you are living in Japan, there are two reasons why you might wanna check out Kawasaki: Kawasaki Daishi and something that is probably not safe for work, Kanamara Matsuri (The Steel Phallus Festival 金まら祭り).

To start off 2009, and promote my new blog, Evan Pike Photography, Japan Photo Guide is having a contest to give away $2009, $209 in cash (via PayPal) and other prizes! Like last years contest, there are many and simple ways to enter. Here’s the deal:

Prizes:
There will be 3 prizes. Grand Prize is $209 by way of PalPay. 2nd Prize will get two 8×10″ photos of your choice from my gallery and 3rd Prize will get one 5×7″ photo of your choice from my gallery.

Rules/Requirements:
The contest will last until Saturday, March 28th 2009, 11:59pm EST (I will check the time of the comments), unless I do not have at least 200 entries and if that happens I will extend the contest until I get 250 entries (don’t think this will be a problem though). Most importantly….

You have to leave a comment so I know how you entered. No comment = no entries, no exceptions. Also, if you win the Grand Prize, you must have/sign up for a PalPay account (it’s free). PayPal is the only way I can pay the winner.

There is no maximum for number of entries and the winner will be selected using Random.org If you entered my last contest by adding links, you are still eligible for this one for adding the same links, as long as the links are still there AND you leave a comment on this post to let me know.

How to enter:
Get one entry for doing each/any of the following:

• Add the following link to your blogroll: Photography of Evan Pike
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Japan Daily Photo
• Subscribe by email to my feed using the following link: Subscribe to Japan Photo Guide by Email (make sure pop up blocker is off or it may not work)
• Digg, Stumble or use any other social sharing service to share a post from Japan Photo Guide. Up to two entries maximum for this one.

Get three entries for doing each/any of the following:
Read the rest of this entry and see more photos »

The first thing you notice about Okinawa is the beautiful ocean. The second will probably be all of the half dog, half lion statues that are everywhere! These things are called “shisa” or in Japanese, シーサー, that come in all shapes and sizes. Seriously, they are everywhere you go and you cannot avoid them! Apparently they make for good souvenirs because anywhere in Okinawa that sells anything, also has some shisa for sale! I was wondering the whole trip exactly what the deal with them was.