This is the second in a short series of posts where I share my film rolls from our Japan trip in 2023.

We started our second day in Tokyo by wandering the streets of Tomigaya, a residential neighbourhood north of Shibuya station. It was very vibey and trendy, with lots of cafes that definitely felt like it would attract a western audience, but was pretty quiet when we wandered around.

A photo of a white cafe called 'Kiru Store' A photo of a streetscape, with wires hanging from building to building'

A photo of a man walking down a street, shrouded by a bush of purple flowers. To the right is a three story white house.

We then wandered out into Yoyogi park. I didn’t take many good film photos of that but I have one:

A photo of a park landscape with a autumnal tree and a pond in the foreground

The next few days we spent in Nagoya - I have a few shots from our time in the northern city edge, shooting some public art and an art museum.

A photo of an art piece in a paved park A photo of a mid century art museum

From Nagoya we took the Shinano Ltd Express train through the mountains to a small town, Magome, where we stayed for two nights.

A photo of a house on the side of a small hill, with mountains in the background

The vibes were insane in this town; I took most of the shots on this camera roll in the Magome ~ Tsumago areas.

A shot of Magome from a vantage point higher up

We particularly liked Magome as it is built on the side of a hill and has a cobblestone main road which is closed to cars during the majority of the day. It was a killer cardio workout going up and down but felt very magical and video-game-like.

Folks climbing up the hill in Magome A view of the golden hour looking down on Magome

Another photo of Magome, with a winding street and small houses clustered along it

I got a lot of cool photos of the town but most of the other film ones were pretty meh :(

A photo of a small house surrounded by crops

During the middle day in Magome we did part of the Nakasendo hike, between Magome and Tsumago. It was a pretty gentle walk and quite special - everyone along the road was so friendly and we really enjoyed our time.

A photo of a working wooden water wheel in a foresty area

A photo of the autumn leaves on a tree next to the water wheel
A photo of the Nakasendo trail A photo of the Nakasendo trail

A photo of a man in the forest, smiling

A photo of a small town in the mountains

A photo of the mountains in the background with a river running in the foreground

Partway through the hike I finished the film roll and had trouble taking photos on the newly loaded film so these are all the shots I got from the walk 😆