Tokyo Photo Walk 5
08-06-2009
www.dannychoo.com Views 136
image ID#26881 Has been a while since the last Photo Walk. Todays walk includes photos from Ebisu, Nishikoyama, Musashikoyama and Gakugei Daigaku. First photo taken at a newly built park nearby. The Lumix LX3 is incredibly good at taking pics at low light. This shot was f/2.0, ISO 100 with a 1 second exposure - no tripod. There is some sort of image stabilizer thingy inside. Before I forget, some of these in the Wallpaper Pool. image ID#26882 Occasionally go on photo walks with other pro photographers in Tokyo. Here I'm with the Nikon Tou group but one does not have to be a Nikon user to join ^^ This and the following few snapped on my Canon Kiss 2. image ID#26883 The last photo walk I went on was one at Ebisu. image ID#26884 Fellow Brit Jonny Li - pro photographer from Peterborough. Who also helped film Salaryman Trooper and K-ON Trooper. image ID#26885 Gohsuke Takama - strategy developer and entrepreneur. image ID#26886 Florian - Associate Biostatistical Programmer. image ID#26887 iMorpheus - Photographer. image ID#26888 Chris Gaunt - Web Developer Mirai Inc. image ID#26889 Jim Grisanzio - Sr. Program Manager, OpenSolaris.org Portal Development. image ID#26890 Erm, forgot who she is ^^; image ID#26891 Daiji Hirata - former VP of Technology at Six Apart, CEO of News 2 Net. image ID#26892 A security gaurd comes and gives is the "No Photos" message. He is ignored and he runs off to get backup ^^; image ID#26893 Exposure time of 0.4 sec with ISO at 1600 but I still had to hold the Canon Kiss 2 against a rail. Lumix LX3 performs much better than the SLR at night. image ID#26894 Roadworks always seems to look good over here. image ID#26895 Test B/W shot. image ID#26896 f/3.5, ISO 800, Exposure 0.8 sec. Canon Kiss 2. image ID#26897 And the rest of the photos taken on the Lumix LX3. image ID#26898 At Nishikoyama. image ID#26899 Another Nishikoyama. image ID#26900 We usually go for walkies after dindins and take a different route each time ending up discovering new places. image ID#26901 Folks ask me about the greenish lighting in my photos - its not the actual light but my Lumix settings - kinda like the green ^^; image ID#26902 There was a festival near our station to celebrate the completion of the construction work. image ID#26903 They also had a few idols come along to sing n dance. image ID#26904 Apparatus for doing pullups - I manage only 3 ^^; image ID#26905 While we don't have any homeless folks (yet) in our park, in some parks you will see them washing their clothes, brushing their teeth and generally trying to keep clean by the water source. I've seen homeless folks in many different countries but many (not all) of the ones I see over here seem to be trying their best to make the most of life. They wash down at the parks and take part time jobs like distributing leaflets or collecting plastic bottles/used newspapers. As we take a look at the last few Lumix LX3 photos, I'm going to talk about how one chap went from being homeless on the streets to running is own IT firm which went public in 2006. image ID#26906 At the age of 26, Kanemoto-san (who is now naturalized to being Japanese) got married and was earning 280,000 yen per month as an industrial designer. Apart from his main job, he was doing some sort of volunteer work which he had been doing since his days at university. Most of his salary ended up being poured into his volunteer activities and before he knew it he had a few million yen worth of debt and his wife wanted a divorce. image ID#26907 Kanemoto-san told his wife that he decided to go to Tokyo and make it big. He managed to leave Nagoya for Tokyo without going through the divorce. In 1997, with his laptop computer and a few thousand yen in pocket, Kanemoto-san arrived at Tokyo bus station and soon after headed to see his friend in Akihabara who had always said to him "why don't you come to Tokyo and work for me?" But after meeting up, his friend said to him "I didn't think you would actually come..." image ID#26908 Without a job, Kanemoto-san went around to friends places in Tokyo and managed to live under a roof for 20 days - he was then homeless after that. His first homeless place was Tokyo station where there was a load of construction going on. He sheltered himself in the nooks n crannies of construction sites. He kept warm by buying a 300 yen small bottle of warm Japanese rice wine which he would then wrap in newspaper to keep himself warm. image ID#26909 Kanemoto-san would get on the Yamanote line train (which goes in a circle around Tokyo) to keep warm. There was a park in Omotesando where he based himself and was fortunate to meet a shop assistant who would pass him some sell-by-date food. When I started to talk about that water fountain in the park, I recalled Kanemoto-sans story which is why we are talking about it today. image ID#26910 Despite being homeless, Kanemoto-san had always been focused on his dream of making it big in Tokyo. Even though he only had water at times to fill his stomach, he never let go of his laptop computer. He visited a client that he had previously worked with and asked for work. "I'll design business cards - whatever. I need work." image ID#26911 Slowly but surely, requests for computer design work came his way. He even managed to find somebody who would lend him their fax and telephone (Japan is still a fax society - even in 2009!). But Kanemoto-san was still homeless. While he could wash down in the park, he couldn't have a bath/shower meaning that he smelt. The companies that he was doing design work for was unaware that he was homeless. Some of his clients thought that maybe it was because he was so busy that he didn't have time to bathe ^^; image ID#26912 Kanemoto-san being homeless had all the time in the world that he used to come up with design work which he used to approach companies. As his clientele grew, he started to earn 10,000 yen (100 USD) per month which grew to 300,000 yen (3000 USD) per month. He kept 10,000 yen and sent the rest to his wife. image ID#26913 Kanemoto-san managed to build websites and do design on his laptop computer while being homeless for a few years and during this time gained inspiration for setting up a company through the work that he done. image ID#26914 In 1999, Kanemoto-sans wife gave the money back to him that she saved up together with some allowance that she got from her parents. He used this money to set up an IT company called OK Wave which went public after receiving funding from IT giants Cyber Agent and Rakuten. OKWave currently has 962,521,500 yen of capital with 87 employees. Their clients include NTT, KDDI and Microsoft. Apart from running his company, he has also published many books about his experiences. In the Yomiuri interview with Kanemoto-san, you can see a photo of him standing by a wall of empty plastic bottles. He was quoted a few million yen just for partitions and it was then when he had the idea to stick a load of plastic bottles to use as partitions in the office. Kanemoto-sans story taken from Yomiuri and Wikipedia. image ID#26915 Was inspirational watching Kanemoto-san on BariBari Value a while back. BariBari was a show that covered the lives of CEOs which included many rags to riches stories. No matter what the odds are, Focus, Determination and Passion will get you through the storm because at the end of all storms are blue skies and calm waters. If you have hit a wall then climb over it or break it down because if you do nothing then you will be staring at the wall for the rest of your life - and you never know, the wall may fall on you cutting your life short ^^; While working at Mirai Inc is fun, I do run into a fair share of walls but as I've said before, these obstacles should be treated as a gift from fate which should spur us to improve, learn and make us stronger. Allowing obstacles to consume us does nothing for life. image ID#26916 Finishing off with a snap taken at Lalaport in Toyosu last Friday. Akihabara News - Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)Japan Probe - Japan news and entertainment (Subscribe)Kirainet.com - A geek in Japan (Subscribe) View the full sized images/comments for this item at dannychoo.com Feel free to join/add Danny Choo and see what else the little bugger is up to in his other networks.
image ID#26881 Has been a while since the last Photo Walk. Todays walk includes photos from Ebisu, Nishikoyama, Musashikoyama and Gakugei Daigaku. First photo taken at a newly built park nearby. The Lumix LX3 is incredibly good at taking pics at low light. This shot was f/2.0, ISO 100 with a 1 second exposure - no tripod. There is some sort of image stabilizer thingy inside. Before I forget, some of these in the Wallpaper Pool. image ID#26882 Occasionally go on photo walks with other pro photographers in Tokyo. Here I'm with the Nikon Tou group but one does not have to be a Nikon user to join ^^ This and the following few snapped on my Canon Kiss 2. image ID#26883 The last photo walk I went on was one at Ebisu. image ID#26884 Fellow Brit Jonny Li - pro photographer from Peterborough. Who also helped film Salaryman Trooper and K-ON Trooper. image ID#26885 Gohsuke Takama - strategy developer and entrepreneur. image ID#26886 Florian - Associate Biostatistical Programmer. image ID#26887 iMorpheus - Photographer. image ID#26888 Chris Gaunt - Web Developer Mirai Inc. image ID#26889 Jim Grisanzio - Sr. Program Manager, OpenSolaris.org Portal Development. image ID#26890 Erm, forgot who she is ^^; image ID#26891 Daiji Hirata - former VP of Technology at Six Apart, CEO of News 2 Net. image ID#26892 A security gaurd comes and gives is the "No Photos" message. He is ignored and he runs off to get backup ^^; image ID#26893 Exposure time of 0.4 sec with ISO at 1600 but I still had to hold the Canon Kiss 2 against a rail. Lumix LX3 performs much better than the SLR at night. image ID#26894 Roadworks always seems to look good over here. image ID#26895 Test B/W shot. image ID#26896 f/3.5, ISO 800, Exposure 0.8 sec. Canon Kiss 2. image ID#26897 And the rest of the photos taken on the Lumix LX3. image ID#26898 At Nishikoyama. image ID#26899 Another Nishikoyama. image ID#26900 We usually go for walkies after dindins and take a different route each time ending up discovering new places. image ID#26901 Folks ask me about the greenish lighting in my photos - its not the actual light but my Lumix settings - kinda like the green ^^; image ID#26902 There was a festival near our station to celebrate the completion of the construction work. image ID#26903 They also had a few idols come along to sing n dance. image ID#26904 Apparatus for doing pullups - I manage only 3 ^^; image ID#26905 While we don't have any homeless folks (yet) in our park, in some parks you will see them washing their clothes, brushing their teeth and generally trying to keep clean by the water source. I've seen homeless folks in many different countries but many (not all) of the ones I see over here seem to be trying their best to make the most of life. They wash down at the parks and take part time jobs like distributing leaflets or collecting plastic bottles/used newspapers. As we take a look at the last few Lumix LX3 photos, I'm going to talk about how one chap went from being homeless on the streets to running is own IT firm which went public in 2006. image ID#26906 At the age of 26, Kanemoto-san (who is now naturalized to being Japanese) got married and was earning 280,000 yen per month as an industrial designer. Apart from his main job, he was doing some sort of volunteer work which he had been doing since his days at university. Most of his salary ended up being poured into his volunteer activities and before he knew it he had a few million yen worth of debt and his wife wanted a divorce. image ID#26907 Kanemoto-san told his wife that he decided to go to Tokyo and make it big. He managed to leave Nagoya for Tokyo without going through the divorce. In 1997, with his laptop computer and a few thousand yen in pocket, Kanemoto-san arrived at Tokyo bus station and soon after headed to see his friend in Akihabara who had always said to him "why don't you come to Tokyo and work for me?" But after meeting up, his friend said to him "I didn't think you would actually come..." image ID#26908 Without a job, Kanemoto-san went around to friends places in Tokyo and managed to live under a roof for 20 days - he was then homeless after that. His first homeless place was Tokyo station where there was a load of construction going on. He sheltered himself in the nooks n crannies of construction sites. He kept warm by buying a 300 yen small bottle of warm Japanese rice wine which he would then wrap in newspaper to keep himself warm. image ID#26909 Kanemoto-san would get on the Yamanote line train (which goes in a circle around Tokyo) to keep warm. There was a park in Omotesando where he based himself and was fortunate to meet a shop assistant who would pass him some sell-by-date food. When I started to talk about that water fountain in the park, I recalled Kanemoto-sans story which is why we are talking about it today. image ID#26910 Despite being homeless, Kanemoto-san had always been focused on his dream of making it big in Tokyo. Even though he only had water at times to fill his stomach, he never let go of his laptop computer. He visited a client that he had previously worked with and asked for work. "I'll design business cards - whatever. I need work." image ID#26911 Slowly but surely, requests for computer design work came his way. He even managed to find somebody who would lend him their fax and telephone (Japan is still a fax society - even in 2009!). But Kanemoto-san was still homeless. While he could wash down in the park, he couldn't have a bath/shower meaning that he smelt. The companies that he was doing design work for was unaware that he was homeless. Some of his clients thought that maybe it was because he was so busy that he didn't have time to bathe ^^; image ID#26912 Kanemoto-san being homeless had all the time in the world that he used to come up with design work which he used to approach companies. As his clientele grew, he started to earn 10,000 yen (100 USD) per month which grew to 300,000 yen (3000 USD) per month. He kept 10,000 yen and sent the rest to his wife. image ID#26913 Kanemoto-san managed to build websites and do design on his laptop computer while being homeless for a few years and during this time gained inspiration for setting up a company through the work that he done. image ID#26914 In 1999, Kanemoto-sans wife gave the money back to him that she saved up together with some allowance that she got from her parents. He used this money to set up an IT company called OK Wave which went public after receiving funding from IT giants Cyber Agent and Rakuten. OKWave currently has 962,521,500 yen of capital with 87 employees. Their clients include NTT, KDDI and Microsoft. Apart from running his company, he has also published many books about his experiences. In the Yomiuri interview with Kanemoto-san, you can see a photo of him standing by a wall of empty plastic bottles. He was quoted a few million yen just for partitions and it was then when he had the idea to stick a load of plastic bottles to use as partitions in the office. Kanemoto-sans story taken from Yomiuri and Wikipedia. image ID#26915 Was inspirational watching Kanemoto-san on BariBari Value a while back. BariBari was a show that covered the lives of CEOs which included many rags to riches stories. No matter what the odds are, Focus, Determination and Passion will get you through the storm because at the end of all storms are blue skies and calm waters. If you have hit a wall then climb over it or break it down because if you do nothing then you will be staring at the wall for the rest of your life - and you never know, the wall may fall on you cutting your life short ^^; While working at Mirai Inc is fun, I do run into a fair share of walls but as I've said before, these obstacles should be treated as a gift from fate which should spur us to improve, learn and make us stronger. Allowing obstacles to consume us does nothing for life. image ID#26916 Finishing off with a snap taken at Lalaport in Toyosu last Friday. Akihabara News - Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)Japan Probe - Japan news and entertainment (Subscribe)Kirainet.com - A geek in Japan (Subscribe) View the full sized images/comments for this item at dannychoo.com Feel free to join/add Danny Choo and see what else the little bugger is up to in his other networks.
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Spring Break!-Rice bills-I got these okome-ken (お米券). With each of them I can buy 1Kg of rice in almost any supermarket-shop in Japan. I guess it is Bakemonogatari Sales Monstrous Indeed- The first volume of Bakemonogatari has gone on to sell an astonishing 56,000 copies in two weeks, the lion’s share in Good Smile Company Live Broadcast 5- image ID#24665 Usually at around this time of year, a major figure event called the Wonder Festival takes place at Top 30 Anime OP & ED of 2011, According to 2ch- 2ch has rendered its verdict as to which 2011 anime openings and endings provided the best audio-visual experience, proving once