Japan Trip 2023: Shinjuku at Night

I've been coming to Japan now for almost twenty-five years. In that time, I have been to the Shinjuku district of Tokyo several times. I wasn't planning on going there during this trip. I'm at a stage in life now where I'm not really all that interested in the businesses and nightlife of a place like Shinjuku. I'm especially not interested in the seedier side of this district. But, I decided to attend a photography workshop this week offered by Eyexplore. I came across their photo workshops on Trip Advisor. It wasn't cheap to sign up for two-and-a-half hours of instruction and exploration but it was well worth it.

By the afternoon, the day had turned rainy. My initial reaction to this was that the photo workshop would be a disaster. I couldn't have been more wrong. The light drizzle that was coming down was a great stroke of luck. The rain drops accentuated the lights coming off of buildings and offered opportunities for reflecting lights and colours off of the street. In addition, most people were carrying umbrellas which added to the aesthetic. Although I carried an umbrella with me, I ended up getting soaked as I couldn't hold the umbrella and shoot pictures at the same time.

The workshop leader was a friendly Australian named Charles who has been living in Tokyo for years with his family. He took me through a number of narrow streets and alleyways filled with small restaurants and bars where people were congregating at the end of the work day. The lights and smells were really incredible.

Outside of the narrow streets and alleyways, we progressed out onto the main streets. Strangely, this is where it started to get a bit sketchy. This was definitely an area of disreputable businesses. A number of foreign men were employed to try and entice us into establishments. A firm "no" and quickly moving along was all it took to get away from these touts. I didn't feel unsafe at any moment but this was not the kind of area that I like to spend time in. Japan is a very safe country though. If you don't go looking for trouble, you are not likely to find it.

I'm glad that I signed up for this workshop. Charles was a great instructor and he was great to talk to - we exchanged stories about Australia and Canada. He showed me how to look at street scenes and lights differently than I could ever have figured out on my own. He is also super familiar with the areas in Shinjuku that we explored and knew where to set up some interesting shots. It was worth the investment of money and time. 

In addition, going out this evening helped me to finally get over the last vestiges of my jet lag. I'm so glad that I'm not feeling that anymore. Now I just need to look forward to going through this all over again when I return to Canada!