japan

A Look Inside Sigma’s Art Lens Factory

Want to see how Sigma's highly acclaimed Art lenses are made? Johnnie Behiri of cinema5D recently had the honor of being the first journalist allowed to independently film inside Sigma's Art and cinema zoom lens factory. He documented his experience in the 7-minute video above.

Where to Shoot Cherry Blossoms in Japan: A Practical Photo Guide

Japan goes into a frenzy each spring as millions of locals and tourists gather to catch a glimpse of the elusive cherry blossom. Simply known as sakura, the petals come and go like the wind, representing the ethereal beauty of life.

Nighttime Photos of Tokyo Under the Glow of Neon Lights

German-French graphic designer Matthieu Bühler has been shooting gorgeous nighttime photos of Tokyo, Japan, focusing his attention on the illumination created by all the different neon lights found across the city. His series is titled "Neon Dreams."

Dazzling Photos of Summer Firework Festivals in Japan

Every summer in Japan, there are around 200 separate firework festivals, known as "Hanabi Taikai," which light up the sky in all sorts of colors. Japanese photographer Keisuke spent his time trekking to several of the shows this summer, an effort which allowed him to capture some mesmerizing firework photos.

Photos of Japan’s Unusual Playgrounds at Night

Japanese photographer Kito Fujio has captured a series of photos of his country's playgrounds at night. The Japanese playground structures play straight into the stereotypical robots and creative designs that we might associate with the country, but under artificial lighting at night, they take on a new dynamic.

4 Cool and Unusual Used Cameras Found in Tokyo

Japanese camera manufacturers dominate the digital photography landscape, so it might come as a surprise that the used film camera market is also thriving in Tokyo.

Meet The Man Who Photographed the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

On August 6th, 1945 Russell Gackenbach captured a historic, horrifying event on his personal camera. From the bowels of an Air Force bomber, he snapped two pictures of the first atomic bombing when a 9,000-pound uranium-235 bomb named 'Little Boy' obliterated the city of Hiroshima, Japan.

Photos Take Us Inside Nara Dreamland, An Abandoned Theme Park in Japan

Nara Dreamland was a theme park in Japan that was built back in 1961 and inspired by Disneyland. After the number of visitors dropped, the theme park was permanently closed in 2006 and has been abandoned ever since. French photographer Victor Habchy took his camera into the run-down park to capture what it looks like after 10 years of neglect.

Shooting Sea Fireflies Lighting Up the Rocks On a Japanese Beach

This series of images was made using bio-luminescent shrimp as the blue light source. It was photographed in Okayama, Japan, which is home to these rare and beautiful creatures. Check out the gallery below and read on to find out how they were taken.

How Japan Became the Heavyweight of the Camera Industry

Cameras and photography were birthed in Europe, so how did the Asian island country of Japan become the most dominant player in the global camera industry? Here's a great 30-minute video that explores that question, offering a look into the history and culture of cameras in Japan.

Photographer Sneaks Into Radioactive Ghost Towns in Fukushima

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the nuclear disaster caused a major evacuation and the creation of an exclusion zone around the old plant. Five years later, a photographer has ventured into the zone to deliver photos to the outside world.

Photos of Cherry Blossoms Turning Ponds Pink in Japan

When spring rolls around in Japan, cherry blossoms (known as "sakura") cause an explosion of bright pink colors in the natural landscapes. Photographer Danilo Dungo took his camera to various parks and captured gorgeous photos of the blossoms flooding the waters.

Stabilized Amateur Footage of a 7.3 Magnitude Earthquake

In the wake of the tragic earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador this weekend, the folks at Slate wanted to better drive home the destructive, terrifying power of a high magnitude earthquake. They did it by stabilizing shaky amateur footage of a home in Japan trying to survive the 7.3 magnitude Kumamoto quake.

These Photos Imagine an Ad-Free Tokyo

As with many major cities around the world, the bustling streets of Tokyo, Japan, are filled with advertisements that vie for your attention as you pass through. French graphic designer Nicolas Damiens wanted to see what the city would look like if every single advertisement were removed, so he shot some photos of ad-filled locations and then digitally removed the ads. The resulting series is titled "Tokyo No Ads."

A Clever Camera Store Ad on the Side of a Bus

Over in Japan, the electronics chain Yodobashi Camera places these creative ads on the sides of buses that turn the rear wheel into a lens for a giant camera. Kevin Warnecke spotted this one in Kyoto, Japan.

How Ricoh Returned 90,000 Photos to Victims of the 2011 Tsunami in Japan

When Japan was devastated by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, countless families lost precious photos in their homes that washed away. In response, many organizations sprung up to recover, restore, and reunite photos with their owners.

One company that launched a huge initiative was Ricoh. In the four years following the disaster, the company's "Save the Memory" project found and cleaned 418,721 photos, returning 90,128 pictures to the people who lost them.

Photo Booths In Japan Will Quietly Retouch Your Face to Fix Your ‘Flaws’

In Japan, purikura refers to a photo booth in which you can pose for a photo with friends and decorate the portraits before receiving little printed versions.

One interesting thing that sets many of these machines apart from their Western world counterparts is the fact that they will quietly do beauty retouching on photos in an attempt to fix subjects' facial "flaws."

Canon to Return Camera Production to Japan as Yen Value Tumbles

The value of the Japanese yen has tumbled in recent months, and that could mean changes to where Japanese camera companies choose to manufacture their products. Canon is one company that is making changes in response to the changing economic landscape: it says it plans to bring more of its camera manufacturing back to Japan.

Rude Tourist Photographers are Getting Photography Banned in Japanese Temples

Any travel photographer, or traveller in general, will tell you how important it is that you respect the locations you are exploring. This applies as much for natural environments as it does for sacred manmade spaces, and it's the latter of these that are having to ban photography because of rude tourist photographers who are ignoring this fundamental rule.