In May of 2025 I took my first ever International trip! I was in Japan for 2.5 weeks and had an aboslute blast. The food was amazing the sites were amazing and I truly loved exploring Japan. Being able to go on this trip was a blessing, I learned a lot about Japanize culture and experienced so much amazing food. If you ever get a chance to go to Japan, I recommend going and eating as much ramen as possible.
One of the best parts about traveling is all of the beauty that you get to experience in this world. I carried with me during the trip my Nikon Z 7II. Using my camera I was able to capture amazing images that allowed me to showcase this beatuful country through my eyes. I am excited that I have quite a few images ready, that I have been working on over the past year, to show you and tell you all about how I was able to see the picture and capture this memory.
Let's jump in!
Let's start strong with my first day in Japan. This image was taken at the base of Tokyo Tower. From far away you can see this bright red tower standing out in the sea of green trees around it. When you see images of this tower everywhere you see it from a distance, people are far away snapping photos of the tower. Now, while yes I did snap those same images, I found that as I got closer there was more to this tower than just a far away photo. The closer you get the more detail you can see in the craftsmanship and engenniering of the tower. The red of the tower compliments the blue sky and offers a different contracts of colors compaired to the green trees around. From this lower angle you are able to capture the beauty of the building and highlight it without being distracted by the surroundings.
One thing to note is I have a fear of elevators, so no I did not go to the top. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to elevators. So no top view for you all this time, only the view from below allowing the building to tower over you.
Now we are going to take a massive ump in the trip to a place that we visited towards the end of the trip. Here we are in Osaka at Shitenno-ji temple. In the spirit of taking photos from below, here is another one. With image allows you to look at the details of the temple more closely and admire the deep reds, yellow/gold features, and white. It was a little cloudy that day but the temple stood out beautifully again the sky. It is truly something to see these temples up close and think about how they built them so long ago. The imaculate detail on these temples is truly spectacular. I find myself often looking at the details of arcitecture as I walk around places in my daily life.
This temple was mostly supposed to be a little visit to see the beautiful arcitecture, snap some wunderful photos, and then move along through the city. However, what we didn't know that there was a swap meet happening there. I was able to find so many interesting things that I took home with me. I found an old Canon film camera, lots of old art work, and even some very old postcards. I was also able to capture some fun photographs that highlight the temple with modern day Japan.
Let's take a look at a few more images from this loation.
These images were a lot of fun to capture of the swap meet. I had so much fun in this area and we spent quite a few hours here. It was very hot however so we did sweat a bit.
The image on the right is one of my favotire images that I took here. I absolutly love the flowers in the foreground that lead you to the tents where people are shopping around. In the back we can see the temple from the above image.
Notice how different the temple feels when you see it from a distance vs when you see it from below. Notice how we can now see different details that we couldn't see before? But also notice how details that we did see before are not as noticable?
There are so many different ways to look at this temple and they made sure that you could see the detail and care from every angle.
In the next image you will see the temple one more time from another angle. Look at the details that you can see and compare it to the other two images.
Again, I can not express how much fun this was to photograph. I loved every minute of it and hope you enjoy these images. I wont say much about these three images except I love them. I want you to view them and think about them in your own way and not my way. When you are done viewing them follow me to the next image.
Ok ok, I will give you a break from all of the temeple images. We are going to look at another building instead. This photo was taken of a ramaen shop. Something interesting about this ramen shop is that it is not in any tourist destination area. We were at a park nearby that had no other tourists from what I saw, and we ended up taking a long walk through neighborhoods to this location. It is in the middle of the neighboorhoods. There was no English here and no one spoke English. This was definitly the spot. It was so good, some of the best ramen of the trip. It was an amazing find for sure and I wasnted to remember this place so I snapped a photo when we were leaving. Truly a really good ramen spot, but I doubt tourists will end up here as again it is in a neighborhood where no tourists go.
I mentioned a park nearby the ramen place, well here is one of the many images that I look at that park. The park is called Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park. It was a massive park full of so much scenery. If you enjoy walking and being outside, this was definitely the park for you. I have lots of photos from this location and absolutely loved experiencing this side of Japan. But again, there were no other tourists that we saw here. However, it was a nice change of pace from the bustling city, and a great place to enjoy the nature that Japan has to offer.
Our next adventure takes us to the Okochi Sanso Garden in Kyoto. This garden is located at the end of the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. The bamboo forest is paked wall to wall with tourists. While such a cool place to see, there were so many people making it even harder to get images of this forest. However, at the end of the forest there was this garden that not a lot of people went into. You had to pay to get in, but it was well worth the payment, there was hardly anyone here and we were by ourselves most of the time. This garden was also prety big and offered different things to see and enjoy. This was my favorite spot in the whole garden, the sun was shining in at the right time lighting up the green forest with yellow light. This was a magnificent sight to see in person and was so calming with the sounds of nature around.
Enjoy a few more images of this space!
This garden offered a beautiful view across a massive canyon with a river flowing at the bottom. I still do not know what this building is across the way, but you could hear someone banging against a gong. It was such a beautiful sight to see.
This next image was taken in Nara where the deer come up to you and bow for food. It is quite a cute sight to witness and they were really nice to us when we were there. One of my favorite parts was at the end when we were heading back to the train station, there was a group of deer using the crosswalk in single file heading off to where they sleep. It was so cool to see!
I was lucky to capture this image, it was starting to get late and their weren't many people out. Right after I snapped this photo and was positioning for another one, some lady came over and got right next to the deer with her camera trying to pet it. So this was a lucky shot because I didn't get another chance.
The deer stared at me unafraid and it was quite peaceful to share the space. We both were in our own world and knew that neither of us were there to harm each other. The deer wasn't afraid when I got down and snapped the image. It was the perfect time to, when not a lot of people were left at the park. Quite relaxing.
Lets jump back into the buildings shall we. Osaka Castle, this is quite a beauty. This castle sits in the center of the park high up. There are motes around the castle and it takes a good walk up steep slopping paths made of rock to get up there. There were some amazing views of the city but it was the castle that stood out the most. We did stay close to this park so we ended up walking around it quite frequently. I went out one morning and photographed around the park for a few hours by myself, and even went back at night. I was able to get some beautiful night shots.
What I love about this image is the green and the rock walls, the sky with the clouds. It all helps to allow us to focus on the castle and the beauty that it holds. It looks so clean and pristine sitting high up. This is Definity one sight that you should visit, and it is such big park that it is one of the better spots to visit. You don't run into a lot of people and you can really focus on seeing the castle from different angles.
I am still working on images from this castle, there were so many good ones that highlight the different details of the castle.
Believe it or not, but the bushes hide all of the tourists to the left at this sight. This is still at the castle, a little pond nearby the castle. This little spot was a nice place to experience the castle from, from another view you can get the pond with the castle. Which I did get a lot of those images as well.
Just another beautiful view of the castle. There are multiple different paths in this park that highlight the castle from different angles.
This is one of my favorites as we have the path below and the castle in the back towering above the trees. But you can also look at this and see how far times have come as a modern building creeps out from behind.
Once this castle was the tallest building for miles making a statement to people around it. Now it is a memory and crowded by the modern world.
While the castle is the main part of the park that people love to see, there are other parts to the park as well. This photo was taken at the back entrance to the Hokoku Shrine. This image could not have had a better timing. The lady stood there in the center, umbrella open and no one was walking in the image. She just stood there taking in the sight and providing me with a beautiful composition.
It can be hard to get photographs like this in busy tourist areas, people are constantly coming and going and crowds usually surround these spaces. But this moment was unobstructed and provided a relaxing image.
Makes me want to go for a walk through this park again.
Just as you thought we were done with temples, we are back in the temples. There is a story about this location. Here we are at Katsuoji, famous for the red Daruma dolls that you see everywhere here. I even had the pleasure of placing one for fun. I found this place on tiktok when looking for places to see, and it was quite a trip to get there.
We took an hour train ride on multiple different trains, then you had to get on a bus that drove you up into the mountains on winding roads. This location was high up above the city and you could see super far out, but if you are not up for travel time then its not for you. However, this location was not packed with tourists when we got there. I assumed it was because it is so far out, I even told the lady who worked breakfast and saw me everyday and talked with that we went there and she didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe I said it wrong, but it was a really cool and not super packed place to see.
Lets see some Daruma dolls!
This was one of my favorite images from the location, which says a lot because I left this place with so many photographs and so many good ones. This was one of my favorite places I photographed.
This images shows a small portion of a massive wall for of these Daruma dolls. There are multiple different sized dolls here and this wall was definitely very cool.
The red from theses dolls is so captivating in the green space.
In the next image you will get to see what I like to think of as, my lego scene.
There are photographers who photograph with legos in the wilderness and make these small lego people seem so big. This is what my image reminds me of.
Also the lighting at this time of day was perfect for these images that I was able to capture.
I hope you enjoyed the photo of the Daruma dolls wandering through the forest. It was one of my favorite images of the day.
This image is still at Katsuoji. This temple towers over you as you climb the stairs and stands out in the sea of green tress around it. The lighting could not have been better, I was very pleased with the result of this image.
As you got to the top of this staircase, you were met with a little pool and a statue, you then turned to go up another set of staircases that would lead you to another part of the temple area.
I forgot to mention, when you arrive they give you a little card that you stamp at multiple different spots as you go through the temple. By the end of the journey through, you have made your own little post card to take home with you.
I think a lot of people will recognize this place. It is one of the most famous placed in Kyoto. This is at Fushimi Inari Taisha. and is famous for its path with hundreds of torii gates.
This was so beautiful, but vey overwhelming at the beginning. You are crowded in with tons of people in the gates at first, but the further up the path you go the less people you see because it is quite a hike. There are multiple stops for drinks and suvoniors on the path as well.
I quite enjoyed this part of the trip but it was high that day and we had overnight backpacks on that were heavy. It felt like jumped into a river by the time we were done. I was drenched in sweat!
It was nice that there were not as many people the further up you wnet. It allowed for more relaxing images and a better overall experience of the gate and the surrounding forest.
We are almost to the end of this journey together so why not jump back to day one. I wanted to show one of the first images I took in Tokyo, Japan.
This is a shopping area next to the Shibuya Crossing. I was so amazed this day with Japan and in awe of Tokyo. I still am amazed and in awe, but this was my first day, one of my first photos. I saw everything at once, on the first day. I got my first taste of Japanese culture that day and throughout the trip you can see that I continued to see Japan in different ways.
I started to see more detail and see things that highlighted the culture, the nature, the cities. I went from seeing everything day one to allowing myself to see the details that this amazing country has to offer. I truly hope that you have enjoyed this journey throught these images with me. I promise there are more to see and there is more coming. You can follow along the journey as I continue my way through my Japan photos in the gallery here!
Thank you for going on a small journey of what I experienced in Japan. Maybe there will be another one soon with more images. And look out for my coffee table book that I will be publishing full of all my Japan images!
