Josh Fahler Photography

August 27, 2012 · 11:10 pm

Sights of Okinawa’s Streets and People – Okinawa Post 5

Whenever I travel, I find it important to get an idea of what daily life is like in that place. Taiwan, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and now Okinawa have given me this experience and it’s ALWAYS different.

Most of these were taken in and around Naha, the financial, social, and economic capital of Okinawa. While I certainly noticed fewer old buildings, there were plenty of cultural gems found only in Japan and in some cases, only in Okinawa.

Heiwa-Dori, the famed shopping street, during the midday. Multiple streets actually intersect in this area, and it is under cover in the style of a Japanese “shopping arcade.”

As with the rest of Asia, you’ll find traditional food everywhere. Okinawa soba, varied types of tofu, sashimi, tempura – it’s pretty limitless – and delicious.

Above left: a pachinko parlour named “Monaco.” Above right: this Burger King requires you to take off your shoes upon entrance. Something I’ve never seen, even in Taiwan.

The Naha monorail is a great way to get around the city. Though they only have one line, it covers the important parts of the city – like the airport.

Above left: I’m not sure if this place is actually popular with servicemen/women, but I liked the sign. Much of Naha is off-limits to service personnel. Above right: another restaurant. Like Taiwan, it was hard to decide where to eat.

Above: a representative of the Japanese Communist Party (yes, you read that correctly!) announces an upcoming protest. Notice the MV-22 Osprey silhouette - the Japanese are protesting its use by US Marines due to safety issues. I think the restrictions on the aircraft should pass soon, but it was a pretty noticeable symbol.

Vending machines after the rain. I loved the rain in Okinawa – it was always just enough to cool things off and never stormed all day. Vending machines are everywhere.

Ice cream shop, Heiwa-Dori.

A vending machine-controlled restaurant. You order, it prints a ticket, and you get your food. Not a bad idea.

The monorail conductor.

A fortune teller waiting for business in a Naha alleyway.

Orion beer lanterns. Orion beer is a malty beer brewed on the island itself. Similar to most other Asian style lagers.

Old and new on a Naha street.

More old and new. This intrigues me about Asia and I see it all the time in Taiwan, yet never tire of it.

8 Comments

Filed under taiwan2010

Tagged as 35mm, asia, asian, cultural, culture, d5000, island, japan, japanese, naha, nikkor, nikon, okinawa, photography, street, travel

August 21, 2012 · 12:00 am

Single Shot: Welcoming the Ghosts

I’ll take a break from posting a recent series from my last trip to Okinawa to show off something I saw last weekend at the Hsinchu City God Temple. This is part of a ceremony allowing and welcoming spirits to roam sort of “finish business” from the earthly realms. During this month, spirits are appeased and/or kept away from homes through incense and offerings and spirit money, or ghost money, is burned as an offering. I have some more shots from last year here.

As school is about to start, this is a bit of a culture shock to many foreigners entering Taiwan for the first time. It’s hard to believe this is the start of my third year on the island!

Makishi Market, Naha – Okinawa Post 4

Makishi Market is located in a central part of Kokusai Dori Market, located in Naha, Okinawa. This market is much like the ones I’ve seen and taken photos at in Taiwan, though it was attached with restaurants that prepared your food and allowed you to eat your fresh fish as sashimi or a cooked dish.

Okinawa’s People and Culture – Okinawa Post 3

These images are from a sort of park for Okinawan culture. Ryukyu Mura, or “Ryukyu Village” is a park that showcases much of the culture of the island, featuring buildings that have been moved from other parts of the island. Even if it lacks the authenticity of a real town, I’d say that this is necessary as 90% of the buildings of Okinawa were destroyed during the 1945 battle and this park does a great job preserving the culture from previous times.

One of the first things visitors will notice is the sanshin, an instrument with three strings that sounds like a banjo, is often made from snake skin, and looks similar to the Chinese bowed Erhu. The sanshin is plucked and is a mainstay of traditional Okinawan music. I’ll attach a video first, because you really need to hear it to understand it:

In addition, Ryukyu Mura has a bit of a “Colonial Williamsburg” feel to it as costumed staff demonstrate daily life in the Ryukyu Kingdom and in old Okinawa:

The rest are from a performance that

5 Comments

Filed under taiwan2010

Tagged as 35mm, cultrual, culture, history, island, japanese, kingdom, mura, nikkon, nikkor, okinawa, photography, ryukyu, travel, village

August 6, 2012 · 2:01 pm

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (沖縄美ら海水族館) – Okinawa Post 2

In the middle of our trip, we went north to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, home to the second largest aquarium tank in the world. The main tank is by far the most popular attraction and in all honesty, my photos don’t do it justice – perhaps this video by Jon Rawlinson in Vimeo will do a better job. Make sure to watch it in HD:

My favorite shot of the aquarium was of this massive whale shark. Keep in mind that there are not just one, but two of these with plenty of room to move around!

Apparently, the aquarium is of of a few with manta rays:

Of course, there were other exhibits with smaller tanks:

The architecture of the structure itself was a bit fascinating:

…and the natural beauty of the area was pretty amazing:

4 Comments

Filed under taiwan2010

Tagged as aquarium, beauty, churaumi, fish, island, japan, natural, nikon, ocean, oceanic, okinawa, photography, science, shark, water, whale, 沖縄美ら海水族館

July 31, 2012 · 1:53 pm

Okinawa’s Shuri Castle (首里城) – Okinawa Post 1

Shuri-jo, or 首里城, is a castle located in southern Okinawa which I visited last week while on a trip to the Japanese island. The structure itself is rebuilt, having been used as a Japanese military headquarters during the 1945 battle and subsequently destroyed during the fighting. It dates back to the 14th century, during which it was part of not Japan, but the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyu culture, which is similar in many ways to Japan through language and culture, played a central role in trade in the region. It was, however, taken over and annexed by the 19th century as Okinawa became Okinawa Prefecture.

1 Comment

Filed under taiwan2010

Tagged as 18mm, 35mm, asia, castle, cultural, d5000, 首里城, history, japan, jo, nikkor, nikon, okinawa, photography, shuri, 日本国

July 17, 2012 · 5:40 am

Single Shot: Tainan “General”

This is a repost of a reprocessed image I took in Tainan a year and a half ago. I decided to redo the RAW file as I’m trying to improve my processing skills by bringing new life to old photos. The original can be found partway down the page here.

For this shot, I warmed up the image’s white balance, increased some sharpening and contrast, and balanced the stark dark and light levels to even out the image but still put a focus on the faces. Any improvement here shows the importance of keeping RAW files, among other things.

4 Comments

Filed under taiwan

Tagged as chinese, culture, d5000, eight, face, generals, nikkor, nikon, painted, religion, tainan, taiwan, taiwanese

June 26, 2012 · 11:03 am

Single Shot: Tourism Tricycle in Lu Kang

This was taken quite a while ago during a trip to “Lukang,”, or 鹿港, an old town further south in Taiwan that was once an important harbor. Apparently, this cart is from the nearby Presbyterian Church, and I forgot about this picture as I was getting other shots posted and moving along.

Lion Dance and Temple Ceremony, Guqifeng (古奇峰), Hsinchu

A month ago, I visited Guqifeng, or 古奇峰, a temple in Hsinchu marked with a very large statue of the god of war, Guan Gong, on top of a mountain just east of the city. Last weekend, while visiting the general area, my wife and I noticed something going on inside and saw a lion dance troupe preparing to perform. Here are some shots from this performance.

Above: the drumline beats out the rhythm for the dancers. These guys were very talented and drumming is an art of its own in Taiwanese and Chinese culture.

A performer tests the stands before the performance by jumping between them. These performers will rarely make mistakes, but an important safety procedure for this was a group of performers underneath, holing the stand steady and acting as a buffer for falling friends. This did happen – the first time I’ve seen this happen before – and the performers who fell were perfectly fine, their fall being broken as they were caught. During this time, the drums kept going and the lion dancers were back in no time.

A confetti-covered ground marks the main ceremony area before the lion dance performer took the stage.

A walking god watches as the altar of another god “visits” the temple god. The confetti canons were set up at a climax during the ceremony and I was happy for a wider angle lens here.

Lion dancers jump across. Notice the drummers yelling below.

2 Comments

Filed under taiwan

Tagged as 18mm, 35mm, chinese, county, culture, dslr, festival, hsinchu, nikon, photography, religion, taiwan, taiwanese, temple, 古奇峰

June 5, 2012 · 10:51 am

Hsinchu Air Show, 2012

Each year, the local air force base hosts an event for the public which is open to all to visit the base for an air show. Growing up, I frequented events like these with my grandparents taking me each year. It was exciting to see this again, even if we were a bit limited for time and the weather could’ve been better.

The stars of the show were the ROC Air Force’s “Thunder Tigers,” a stunt group much like the US Navy Blue Angels or US Air Force Thunderbirds. They flew AT-3 trainers, which is a Taiwanese-created and engineered aircraft. They aren’t too fast, but are very maneuverable and actually quite quiet compared to the louder engines of a Mirage or F-16.

I noticed that tigers play a big role in ROC squadron art – I’m guessing this is partially due to the involvement of the American “Flying Tigers” who flew against Japan for the Chinese Air Force before Pearl Harbor. Their history is a bit fascinating and serves as a sort of basis to the rest of the ROC Air Force.

After the Thunder Tigers was a Dassault Mirage 2000:

Unfortunately I didn’t get this “sweet spot” over the crowd, but I survived. It was quite humorous to see them moving their cameras in unison as the planes flew by:

One of the main issues facing the ROC Air Force is its weakening relationship with the United States. Ever since ties have warmed between the PRC and United States, the ROC has found itself short on weapons to buy as the US fears it will anger China. As a response, the IDF or Indigenous Defense Fighter, was created in the 1990′s: