Prologue
In the following, I've combined information from various sources I collected before I went, with experiences from my first tour to Japan in 2008. Aimed at the serious railway photographer it will also be of use to the general travel photographer who wants to travel through Japan by train independently.
Preparation
No good photography without good preparation. I recommend the following sites and books.
- General information on Japan: http://www.japan-guide.com
- Join JSTRAINS on Yahoo groups to ask any rail related questions in preparation of your tour.
- ISBN 4-09-102057-7, Japanese text, 380 pages, with a lot of good railway photography including maps so you at least know on which line they were taken, 4000Yen (amazon.jp)
- ISBN 4-7770-0401-5, Japanese text, 120 pages, good railway photography and also shows the locations of the pictures on a map, 1000Yen (amazon.jp)
- ISBN 4-398-20104-1 Road Atlas Japan, English text, shows all railways and most stations scale 1:250000 3000Yen (amazon.co.uk)
- ISBN 978-1-873756-97-3 Japan by rail, travel guide specifically written for getting around Japan by train. (amazon.co.uk)
- Use http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi , an English language railway timetable, to plan your journey.
- Use google maps (mostly Japanese text) to search for locations. High resolution aerial photos are available for large parts of Japan.
- Book your hotels on-line. I can recommend: http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/top.html The prices are reasonable and most are really close to the main stations. They have free high speed internet connections in the rooms, which is ideal to prepare for the next day.
What to take
Besides your usual photographic equipment, tailored to suit the type of photography you do, remember to take a good long lens too as the urban environment often means that this is the only way to get any decent shot, and you can often force shots from otherwise uninteresting locations.
Luggage
When travelling about by public transport it's always sensible to limit the amount of luggage you have. There are luggage lockers at all larger stations and I never had a problem finding a free one, even the (intermediate) 400Yen size I needed, as my case was just slightly wider than the door of most but not all (small) 300Yen lockers. That said, I did travel outside the peak tourist season. There is a lot mentioned in guidebooks and internet about the limited room for luggage on long distance trains and the Shinkansen in particular. I don't know what the problem is all about. There is no less luggage space than on any other (European) train that I've travelled on. Sensible sized suitcases can always be accommodated. Trunk size twirlies (the type that will fit a kitchen sink and weigh about the same) are going to be a problem on any train anywhere in the world.
Food and drink supplies
No need to carry anything with you. There are beverage vending machines at every street corner with cold and warm drinks. You don't believe me? Really, there are, even in the smallest village. Convenience stores are nearly as common, and even the smallest ones sell recognizable food like sandwiches. You're never far away from food and drink.
Weather
Japan has plenty of rain. Check the statistics before you go. To counter this you need access to an up to date localized weather forecast in English, and you have to be flexible. Often you'll find sun in Osaka and rain in Tokyo or vice versa. Thanks to the Shinkansen network you can get there in a few hours. If the entire country is covered with rain you're out of luck. Ride the train, relax or scout for locations.
First impressions
You most likely will land at Narita airport near Tokyo. The reserved seats only Narita Express will then take you to any of the major stations in Tokyo, well insulated from the world outside. But as soon as you get off you'll experience the real Tokyo, where there are people everywhere. Off peak Tokyo is rush hour elsewhere. You can't really imagine Tokyo rush hour until you've been there. Don't panic. Take some time to get accustomed to moving around a big station and a big town. You'll soon realize how everything works, where to look for the English on the boards and signs and how not to get trampled on.
Getting around
Use the excellent rail network which consists of a high speed trains network (Shinkansen) and separate conventional network. Buy a Japan Rail Pass before you leave home. Remember that all green car seats and most standard class seats on the Shinkansen network are reserved seats only. This sounds like a hassle, but simply turn up with a note with train number, departure time and destination written in capital letters and even minutes before departure you'll be issued with a reservation. There is always plenty of space in the green cars, only once did I have to opt for the next train. Standard class can be more of a problem when travelling during the rush hour.
A number of the local trains around Tokyo have green cars. Take note which lines and trains they are as it can be the one way of moving about in the (c)rush hour without experiencing a sardine can experience.
Finding your way
Negotiating the railways is perfectly possible with a little preparation and some knowledge of English. On all stations the station name is displayed in English together with the next station in either direction. So with a good map you'll always know which way you need to travel even on a cloudy day. Most departure boards will be at least part bilingual, and most (not all) trains will display the destination in English too. Rule of thumb is that the further you get off the beaten tourist tracks the less legible information there will be. Knowledge of English by railway staff is usually (very) limited. A phrase book can be very useful once off the beaten track.
Buying tickets from a machine
Using a JR Pass you won't be faced with this too often if at all. But if you do need to, here is some advice. There are two types of ticket sales machines. The old type has just a puzzling array of buttons. The text here will all be in Japanese. Maybe at stations where they have encountered the odd foreigner there may be English handmade labels added to the most popular options. Above the machine there will be a schematic map showing the fares to any location, where trains stopping at the station will leave for. Again at smaller stations the text may only be in Japanese. To start with none of the buttons will be illuminated. As you enter money more buttons will light up allowing you to make the choices which are covered by the amount you've entered.
It will help if you know the fare to the place you are going (you may have checked it on internet in advance). If you aren't able to determine the fare buy the cheapest ticket. Every station has a fare adjustment machine. I never used one, but I assume that after you feed in your ticket you'll be shown the fare to be paid.
If there are several machines, at least one is usually a modern touch screen version, which offers an English language option, which makes things a lot simpler. Even then you'll need to know the fare. Remember that if you want a green car ticket (for those routes that have non reserved green car seats) first buy a normal ticket for the required fare and then pay the green car fare for the route which you can then select on the screen.
One important thing to remember is that all tickets bought in this manner are for same day travel.
Photographic environment
Train-spotting and railway photography is great in Japan. It must be the best place anywhere in the developed world. Not only is there an intensive timetable with a diverse range of rolling stock and equally diverse range of sceneries but more importantly there is a positive and open attitude towards rail fans and photography in general. No harassment by semi official dogs bodies (private security staff) asking what you are doing, no searches of your camera bag looking for any evidence that you may be about to plant a bomb or otherwise have sinister intentions. Platform tickets are for sale everywhere for 150Yen and give you unlimited access to all the public areas of any station whether JR or any private company, no questions asked.
Apart from this there is absolutely no graffiti on walls or rolling stock. There are no groups of youths loitering with intent. There are no undesirables hanging around the stations like elsewhere in the liberal west, which often make you reluctant to pull out a camera for fear of being mugged. Japan really feels safe.
What to shoot and where to look for shots
Most towns have view points from the higher floors of sky scrapers. Many are in the vicinity of stations and are suitable for railway photography and other scenic shots of town scapes too. “Japan by Rail” mentions quite a few. Most of the monorails and the like are elevated and give good views too.
The disciplined manner with which railway staff go about there duties unlike anything we know in the west is something to look out for. The routines for changing drivers and guards complete with salutes, the routines on entering and departing stations are just a few which can yield good images if that's the sort of thing that interests you.
You can make a complete study of the design of the newest series of shinkansen trains which is like no other high speed trains in the world.
Japan boast some of the most modern transport systems; elevated railways, monorails, automated rubber tyred metros but also many tram system using small ancient tramcars sometimes alongside state of the art European style low floor articulated trams.
Outside the big cities there are all the usual possibilities for landscape type shots often only a short walk away from a station.
Technical gen
I used a 8Mpix Canon EOS 30D for all shots. I had three lenses with me. A Tamron 28-75/2.8 as my general purpose lens used on 80% of the shots. A Canon 70-300IS for the long shots and a Tamron 11-18/3.5-4.5 for the wide angle shots. I used one 8GB CF card and a sub laptop with 250GB hard drive on which I copied the days shots each evening. Once my 8CF card was full I copied the keepers from the laptop onto two 1GB CF cards. That way I always had the keepers stored in two locations. I didn't have a second body or further CF cards or hard drives with me. This is Japan, not a third world country and any spares can easily be bought locally. I shot 2500 frames of which approx. 200 are keepers. The high number of frames was mainly due to using the high speed winder mode shooting people action at stations.
I opted to take the 70-300IS over my 70-200/4L because I anticipated a lot of long lens shots where I'd need to use a 1.5xTC. I'm not sure it was the right choice. I missed quite a few shots because of the slow AF and simply poor AF in low light at the long end. It was useful in assisting framing in strong winds (like on the 40th floor on an open observation deck).
About the Author
Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer
(piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing
trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect
shot in the best light. As the Netherlands doesn’t have many
locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels
abroad whenever he can.
More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net
