W/NW The Streets of Yokohama!

The Streets of Yokohama​
U69954.1714338115.0.jpg

Sony A7III camera
Voigtländer 50mm f1 Nokton Aspherical VM lens
April 2024 - Yokohama, Japan​
 
You find such wonderful images of so many young people in the streets that I wonder if they are they are doing the same thing we used to do in my youth, though in cars, as cruising the gut, or what we saw when we visited Italy in the 70’s for the passeggiata after meals. Are these people actually there for shopping or just to be social?
 
oldhaven said:
You find such wonderful images of so many young people in the streets that I wonder if they are they are doing the same thing we used to do in my youth, though in cars, as cruising the gut, or what we saw when we visited Italy in the 70’s for the passeggiata after meals. Are these people actually there for shopping or just to be social?
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Hello Oldhaven and thank you for the kind comment.

There’s a long answer to your question, I’m sure books have been written about it. I’m no expert but I’ll give you as short an answer as I can.

For starters people in Japan don’t hang out at home. Home is where one eats, sleeps and changes clothes. The houses and apartments are small. People don’t entertain at home. Friends don’t visit other friends' houses. People arrange to meet friends outside the house. People go out and visit parks, attend outdoor events, go to movies, shop and eat at restaurants. Lunch dates are a big thing. There are restaurants on every corner and several more in-between. Also people meet in coffee shops, not just Starbucks, there are plenty of independent coffee shops.

Also, the cities in Japan, like Yokohama, are very pedestrian friendly. It’s very easy to walk around. I myself don’t own a car, I use public transportation and walk; many young people (and old people) do not own a car. A person can take a bus or train into the part of the city they want to visit, meet their friends and walk around. People tend to dress nicely when they go out (it’s the culture).

So, while all the people are out walking around, looking nice and having a good time… I’m walking around with my camera taking pictures.

Oldhaven, I hope this is the kind of response you were looking for. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask.

All the best,
Mike
 
Walking is by far the best way to see things, and photograph them, anywhere in Asia.

Unlike in Australia, where if you don't own at least one car, you are regarded as a social pariah. My next door neighbors, a couple in their mid-70s, own three cars between them - also a flat screen TV set in every room, six laptops, four PCs, and enough mobile phones to set up a retail shop. They drive everywhere. Socializing is at the "center of high culture" in our town (aka the local shopping mall) where they meet their friends for breakfast and coffee.

Social reject that I am, I've not had a driver's license since the '90s). We have one car, a 34-year old Audi which we use only for shopping trips and weekend visit to Melbourne.

In our country town, which does a good weekend trade in domestic tourism so they locals are used to visitors, many Aussies often react aggressively and even violently at the sight of a camera, even in public places, if they believe it is being pointed at them. Recently I was out in the countryside testing my newly acquired Nikon 300mm tele on bird life, and a loudmouth threatened to get with his shotgun and "teach" me who was "the boss around here", fortunately for him he didn't act on this, but it was uncomfortable and I decided to report the incident to the state police in town, which they pooh-pooh'd as basically just another harmless local loony carrying on.Sadly our town is full of these NQCs (Not Quite Certifiables) who go looking for trouble after a few hours in one of the pubs. So cameras are out in country towns. In the cities things are not much better and I've witnessed some nasty confrontations between photographers and people on the streets.

Such is the Australia we live in nowadays.

Not so in most of Asia (excepting a few countries, notably Singapore, Brunei and so I'm told, China), especially in Indonesia (excepting Bali) which is a paradise for street photography. Even in Java things have changed since I began hanging out here in the 1980s. Some well-to-do Indonesians, notably wealthy Chinese, are paranoid about being photographed even from ten meters distance in busy streets. My Chinese friends say they are fearful of being targeted through photographs for robbery or violent crimes.

This in the cities. In the smaller towns and the villages, a "buleh" (white person) with a camera attracts a mob of curious locals, usually happy to oblige by posing. ask for small money and I'm usually happy to oblige. I have thousands of tsuchimages in my files which I F&F (file & forget), as I dislike posed photos of people smiling at the camera. For me it's more fun to sit in the shade of a warung (food stall) with a Bintang beer and pot-shoot at the locals as I now and then do, usually at a pasar (traditional market) from a discreet distance with a 90/2.0 Fujinon on my XE2 or a 180/2.8 ED on a Nikon.

In Bali anyone pointing a camera at a local will be asked for a "contribution" to their economic well-being, in one of several Western languages and usually in US$...

Again, my (usual) verbose way of noting how envious I am of the OP's diligence in photographing on the street, also the remarkably high success rate of his fine images.
 
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