TLR Challenge: 3 – Night Shots

With an appointment nearby at 7pm and having arrived in the area at 6:15 I had about 40 minutes to shoot the third film of the day that I had promised myself I would take. With FP4 in the camera I set exposure to 400asa and decided to develop normally (Rodinal semi-stand 100:1 60 minutes) – why not?

Nights shots provided an opportunity to test my ability to hold the camera steady (Rolleiflex 2.8GX – more about this in a later post) at low shutter speeds – some down to 1/15th of a second.

The area is near Tamachi station in Tokyo and is a small mesh of narrow pedestrian streets with mostly old and small restaurants. Much of the area (Thursday evening) was packed with locals seeking somewhere to continue the day’s “work” with colleagues – making photography difficult. Also, perhaps an excuse, the rush led to three badly focused shots on the roll. Exposure only infrequently changed from 1/30th of a second and f2.8, all shots hand-held.

The featured image shows a quiet corner with a chicken restaurant on the ground floor and “peace of mind” on the second floor – which might involve food and alcohol or ladies or both.

The entrance signs are very confusing and misleading to a dim gaijin like me. The lantern on the left has a perplexing text which seems to read ‘straits navy’. Indeed the first two kanji do translate to ‘straits / channel’ but is actually just the name (Seto) of the sea between three of the main Japanese islands but that channel was famous not for a government navy but a powerful group of pirate vessels. The flag in the centre of the image below had me even more confused. I didn’t have time to read it properly (the flag is backwards and partially folded) – I could make out ‘love’ at the top and I thought ‘teaching room’ below. Somehow it seemed unlikely but vaguely fitted in with the idea of naughty sailors, but there definitely wasn’t time to explore. My wife later explained the kanji are ‘love princess’ but it’s simply a place or person’s name – Ehime. Next time I must go in to explore the local dishes.

One of the most popular – and cheapest meals – in Japan is ramen (noodles in a broth). Often there are images or plastic versions of the actual dishes to indicate the type of ramen available, varieties vary with location: Kyushu ramen being rather slimy, Hokkado ramen – especially miso ramen – being easily the best (I’m biased). Tourists often now face two tier pricing, a significantly higher price for tourists (Japanese generally being significantly poorer than the US and EU citizens, probably much to your surprise).

It’s common to use lanterns as advertising signs with descriptions of the food available. Here obviously beef is available. The other signs refer to specific dishes – vegetable rolls, skewers, beef tongue, grilled meat and so on.

Of course it’s not just food. The favourite drink in Japan is beer. Traditional Japanese drinks are Sake (rice wine) and Shochu (a spirit usually about 20-25% made from sweet potato, barley, rice, soba (buckwheat) or sugar cane) – both drinks being loved by some but disliked by most.

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