Chinatown

I haven't had the opportunity to go out into the wild for a photo shoot recently. However, while doing some business in downtown Yokohama, I took the long way home through Yokohama's Chinatown and the Osanbashi Pier.

Most of the shops in  Chinatown were closed--either because of COVID-19, because it was a Tuesday, or maybe a combination of both. I tried to get a few shots that might exemplify Chinatown with all of the colorful signs and hanging red lanterns. No matter where I went, however, there were so many cement power poles that totally detracted from the mood of a typical day in Chinatown. Maybe if there were more crowds, that would draw the viewer's attention away from the power poles and electric lines.

Not all was lost however. I came across a temple called Kantei-Byo (関帝廟). According information posted online by what seems to be a community or neighborhood association of Chinatown, the temple is dedicated to a famous general depicted in a Chinese historical novel who became an inspiration to Chinese immigrants arriving in Japan starting back in the late 1870s. The general was revered for his sense of loyalty, righteousness, and business skills--traits that held a special appeal to the new immigrants who must have struggled as they started building a community, starting new business, and making a new start for the lives of their families.

Kantei-Byo Temple is now a popular tourist destination  as well as a holy site where the local Chinese can have their  spiritual, social and cultural needs met.

Originally built in 1862, the temple was rebuilt after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. It was rebuilt again after the fire bombing during WWII, and rebuilt one more time after a fire in 1981 that was caused by a lightning strike. Tragically, that temple had to be rebuilt a fourth time in 1986 after suffering from another fire that engulfed the structure.

No matter where you go in Chinatown, it's hard not to miss the various designs and postures of dragons.

As evening got darker, I was fortunate to come across one of many dragons on the roofline of Kantei-Byo Temple. From what I understand, dragons are a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for many people in East Asian cultures. They don't seem to hold the same persona of evil and wickedness as more commonly found in western literature or modern pop culture.

Ceramic Chinese Dragon on Roof of Chinese Temple in Chinatown

Pentax KP 88 mm ISO 100 for 0.8 sec. at ƒ/5.6

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The eastern entry to Yokohama Chinatown is called the Sunrise Gate and “protects” Chinatown from east. The primary color associated with this gate is blue as its guardian deity is the Azure Dragon. This dragon is also depicted as the god of spring and prosperity, is the guardian deity for the east, and is always colored in tones of blue.

Eastern Gate to Yokohama Chinatown

Pentax KP 36 mm ISO 100 for 15.0 sec. at ƒ/18

#gate #guardian #deity #Chinese #Chinatown #Yokohama #Japan

#門 #中華街東門 #朝陽門 #中華街 #横浜

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The shot above was taken at an angle from the right. The best position for taking a shot with a tripod would have put me right in the middle of a street with somewhat heavy traffic. Another and maybe better option would have been to back up to the park that is about two blocks away and position a telephoto lens on the tripod and just patiently wait for a moment with no traffic crossing 3 different intersections. This kind of shot might be achieved at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. when most of the city is asleep. 

Only two shots were semi-presentable during this mini photo shoot. I would like to come back again and try some other shot with more people or maybe  after a rain storm at night when the ground is reflecting more light.  

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Hanabiyori Park

Today's photo shoot took place at Hana-Biyori Botanical Park located in the city of Inagi, which is a part of the Tokyo metropolis. The park was originally scheduled to open to great fanfare back in January or February of this year, but due to the pandemic, the opening was delayed until June after the Japanese government rescinded the request for all residents to stay home as much as possible and avoid unnecessary outings where one might run the risk of coming into contact with other people. 

Hana-Biyori is run by the same company that operates Yomiuri Land, an amusement park located right next to the park. However, entrance fees and access to the botanical park are separate from the amusement park. 

The headline attraction at the park is a digital light show that incorporates digital art, laser lights, and blended with actual flower plants situated on the walls, floor, and hanging from the ceiling in a spacious hall that is more like a spacious greenhouse. The hall includes small shops, space for flower related workshops, a very nice Starbucks cafe, a huge fish aquarium, and numerous flowering vines hanging from the ceiling over the patrons' tables. 

Since this is private park, I was not able to bring my dog. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't able to bring her, but at the same time, my hands and mind were freed to explore the park more carefully in hopes of finding some nice compositions. Whenever I take her to locations where there are other people, she tends to attract the oohs and aahs of passersby, which can be a little distracting if your are trying to focus on a composition. Regardless, I am more than happy to express my appreciation to her fans and let them give her a tummy rub--which she loves!

Admission to the park isn't expensive at ¥1,200 (approximately €10.00 or $12.00). Parking comes to about ¥600 per hour (approximately €5.00 or $6.00). 

To be honest, I found the park to be a little quirky. There wasn't a clear overall theme for the grounds outside. I think the primary attraction is the digital/flower show, which was interesting but not really my cup of tea. If I were serious about learning more about growing plants or flowers, I think that attending one of the workshops would be a very interesting and useful experience. Clearly, though, the park is more of a tourist attraction than a botanical park. I would normally imagine a botanical park or garden to be more of an extension of an educational or research organization whose primary mission is to preserve and share knowledge related botanical life, answer some mysteries associated with plants, and promote conservation of plant life in general. Regardless, I was excited to start walking the grounds and start taking some pictures.

My first stop in the garden revealed a patch of grass with a statue dropped right in the middle without much context. I had to go online to learn that it was a statue of Budai, a semi-historical Chinese monk from the 10th century who is always depicted as laughing with a protruding pot belly. Budai is said to be a harbinger of abundance and good health in the tradition of Chinese Buddhism. In the tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism, however, Budai is referred to as Hotei and seems to be referred to as a God of Peace. Regardless, I couldn't help smile at such a happy looking character.

Statue at Flower Park

Pentax KP 135 mm ISO 2000 for 1/200 sec. at ƒ/9

#HanaBiyori #park #statue #Budai #Hotei #Japan

#布袋の像 #フラワーパーク #よみうりランド #稲城市

Portfolio: pix4japan.myportfolio.com

Walking to the greenhouse to watch the digital/flower art show, I came across two types of sunflowers that caught my attention. As you can see in my blog post from July 25, 2017 (Sunflowers Sagami River), my concept of sunflowers has been prejudiced to very tall flower that have huge brownish disks in the center, and have bright, solid yellow petals. However, the sunflowers I saw at Hana-Biyori were only knee-high, had very small diameter disks, and the petals were more orange with either brown or red tones on the portions closer to the disk.

Based on the short height, the darker shade of the disks, and based on similar flowers I was able to identify online, my best guess is that the first set of flowers that I saw were Suntastic Yellow sunflowers. 

Suntastic Yellow

Pentax KP 115 mm ISO 400 for 1/640 sec. at ƒ/5.6

#sunflower #SuntasticYellow #flowers #HanaBiyoriPark #Japan

#ヒマワリ #サンタスティックイエロー #よみうりランド #稲城市

Portfolio: pix4japan.myportfolio.com

The second set of sunflowers I came across were also unusual--but my new favorite type of sunflowers! Again, based on the size, height, and based on similarly looking flowers that I found  online, I think the second set of flowers are called Firecracker or Ring of Fire. Furthermore, both names of flowers go by the same genus and species: Helianthus annuus.

The Firecracker name might be British English since this name was often used on sites originating from the U.K., whereas the Ring of Fire name might be American English since this name was often used by companies selling seeds in the States.

Firecracker

Pentax KP 135 mm ISO 1250 for 1/640 sec. at ƒ/6.3

#sunflower #Firecrakcer #flowers #HanaBiyoriPark #Japan

#ヒマワリ #ファイアークラッカー #よみうりランド #稲城市

Portfolio: pix4japan.myportfolio.com

The park also has an area called the Sacred Forest where they have acquired Higiri-Mon Gate, which is an historical piece of architecture that was once a part of the Kyoto Imperial Palace until the 17th century before the shogun moved the emperor to Edo Castle in modern-day Tokyo. The well-preserved gate has been reassembled for use at the park and leads to other major attractions including a Statue of Myoken Bodhisattva (a Buddhist deity revered as the deification of the North Star in Japanese Buddhism), a statue of Avalokitesvara (a Bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas), and a pagoda that is said to house ashes and hair of Buddha.

Higiri-Mon Gate

Pentax KP 31 mm ISO 6400 for 1/160 sec. at ƒ/16

#gate #HigiriMon #JapaneseArchitecture #HanaBiyori #Japan

#門 #聖門 #よみうりランド #稲城市

Portfolio: pix4japan.myportfolio.com

The other structures housing the statues were very interesting and I wanted to learn more about their origin and history. Unfortunately, I didn't post any photos of the structures because the park is actually kind of small forcing everything in the Sacred Forest to be packed closer together making it a bit difficult (for me at least) to get the kind of composition that afforded them the degree of significance I would ideally like to convey in such a photo.

Almost all of the shots I tried to take included fences, power lines, or a background that conflicted with subject of the shot. I wouldn't mind coming back and trying to take the shots again on a rainy day or maybe on a foggy day. Such "bad" weather is great for creating a composition that allows greater focus on the subject while making it easier reduce the impact of distracting objects in the scene. Fog is especially wonderful when I want to disappear a whole building, power lines, train tracks, overhead highways, garish signs, etc. 

One might ask why I don't just "erase" such distractions in Photoshop. Unfortunately, I do not have that kind of skill set yet. Until then, I would much rather get the shot in camera as opposed to spending hours at my desk in post processing. 

After leaving the Sacred Forest, I headed back to entrance of park to go home. Along the way, I came across a few large ceramic bowls that were placed on the ground and filled with cut sunflowers and various shades of white, green, blue, and violet hydrangea petals floating on water. The water below the flowers and water dripping off of the petals was riveting. A larger size of the photo below can be viewed online here: pix4japan.picfair.com.

Water Bowl with Flower Petals

Pentax KP 48 mm ISO 800 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/4.5

#sunflower #hydrangea #waterbowl #HanaBiyori #botanicalpark #Japan

#ヒマワリ #紫陽花 #よみうりランド #ハナビヨリ #植物園 #稲城市

Portfolio: pix4japan.myportfolio.com

I have seen similar flower arrangements before but not in such a great density. The water bowl of flowers was the perfect ending to my photo shoot since June is still in the middle of Japan's rainy season, which is also the peak viewing season for enjoying hydrangeas. 

If you plan on visiting this park, I'd recommend visiting in the fall or spring when there is a greater abundance of blossoms and color.

Location at Google Maps:

• https://goo.gl/maps/FitrD7uXkGLqkea2A

Japanese Address: 

• 〒206-8725 東京都稲城市矢野口4015-1

English Address:

• 4015-1 Yanokuchi, Inagi-shi, Tokyo 206-8725

Access:

• 10-minute walk from Keio Yomiuri-Land Station or you can take the free shuttle bus. 

Website available in five languages:

• https://www.yomiuriland.com/hanabiyori/ 

Gear Used on the Photo Shoot:

1. Camera: Pentax KP Body and Lens Kit
2. Standard zoom lens: smc Pentax-DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ED AL[IF] DC WR
3. Telephoto zoom lens: HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE
4. Tripod: Manfrotto MT190CXPRO4 (carbon fiber legs with quick locking clamps) 
5. Ball head: Manfrotto Cloud XPRO

*Any links to Amazon are affiliated links, which means if you choose to purchase an item that I may get a small commission that has no bearing on your purchase price whatsoever.

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Pix4Japan by Iketani, Daisei is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available at Caubarrere Piché LLC.