This month’s correspondent’s club exhibtion is by a Japanese photographer, Go Yamagata.(From the FCCJ notice)The “Himba” African tribal group live in an arid area of North-western Namibia know...

Superb photos by my friend and partner in crime Mattias Westfalk of lighthouses on the West Coast of the US.Last Spring we spent 2 weeks travelling from San Francicso to Seattle and visiting every lig...

If I had a nice shot of a Japanese funeral, I would have put it here with the caption “RIP Japan”. Ten years in Japan and I’ve never been so disgusted at the crooks, fools,  now drunks that cla...

I spent Monday to Wednesday this week at “Tokyo Taste The World Summit of Gastronomy 2009″.  The event was billed as a fashion show for haute cuisine, and sold out all three days.A picture of Joe...

Hans Brinckmann has very kindly provided some more of his and Ysbrand Rogge’s fantastic Showa-era photos. They are from his on-going exhibition at the FCCJ.Hans has added some captions. If you have ...

“The months and days are the travelers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers. Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying, and...

One of my jobs when I’m not researching, writing, photographing, or washing the dishes at home is running the exhibition committee of the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan. Each month we have ...

When can and when can’t you take photos in Japan?I received an unexpected email from an anthropology professor in Osaka about this topic last week. He had some interesting questions which I’ve pas...

I did a story last year on plastic food samples - the kind you see in the windows of restaurants and cafes everywhere. Well it was so interesting that I went back to the factory to take some photos of...

I ended up in rather a heated debate on another blog recently. Here’s part of the post that caused me to lose my rag:“I haven’t had the chance to go out taking photos today, but I found a great ...

Thanks to Alfie for putting me on to this. There’s a very unusual new blog by a non-Japanese from Hiroshima.Here’s how he explains it:My name is Isaak, and I’m a homeless wanderer in Japan.  Af...

Sorry for the blog hiatus . . .New Year’s ResolutionsBlog more oftenDon’t get freaked out by the poor economic climate depressionDive into multimedia (watch this space)Shed my aversion to Photosho...

These photos are from the Kanamara festility festival in Kawasaki, Spring 2007. Kanamara literally means “iron penis”. The festival is said to have been started by local prostitutes for protection...

Last Monday I visited the Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka. The guy above was waiting outside. He’s standing on a giant cup noodle and holding a packet of instant ramen in his hand Chairman Mao style. ...

Day trip to Osaka yesterday for a story on instant ramen (of all things). On the way back I remembered to ask for a seat with a view of Mount Fuji.Not bad for pictures taken through an inch of window ...

Another shoot for my instant noodle magnum opus. There’s a restaurant - actually more of a bar - in Tokyo where all they serve is instant noodles. 200 kinds! I asked the owner why she choose instant...

When Hayao Miyazaki spoke at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Tokyo he said he could never be the Prime Minister of Japan because “you can’t tell the truth to people who do not want to hear...

I visited the Ghibli museum in Mitaka last week for my story on Miyazaki Hayao.Last time I was there it had only been open for a couple of years. This time I was struck by just how Ghibli-esque the wh...

Yes, you read that right. Not a manga about hermaphrodites, but BY a hermaphrodite.I was browsing through the comics section of my local bookshop and found this:It was the catchline on the cover that ...

My corner of photojournalism isn’t exactly front-line war reporting. But I think this story was about the closest I’ve come to being physically assaulted in Japan so far.Two years ago I was writin...