It's been a while... I have been super busy with work and trying to dedicate more time for studying Japanese so this is coming at the expense of my ShootTokyo posts. I am trying to study 1 hour a day and have been pretty good at maintaining that pace for a while now so I am going to continue to focus on that for now. Giving all I have going on I will likely be able to post about once a week on ShootTokyo. I have a pretty brutal travel schedule coming up. I'll be heading to NYC the week after next. I am taking off a few days at the end to dedicate to photography so very excited about that. After this I have trips to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philippines, San Francisco (again), and Los Angeles (again).

Today's Configuration: Leica M9-P Summilux 35m f/1.4

I spent my first 10 years in Japan traveling through Shinjuku Station. This is the biggest station in the world. It has more than 100 exits. It's easy to get lost in this station.

One of my previous colleagues decided to take the plunge and move over to Leica from his Canon. I have been watching his images on Facebook the past few weeks and enjoying seeing him enjoy his new Leica. He got the same configuration I started with; A Leica M9-P and a Summilux 35m f/1.4. Actually I started with the M9 as the P wasn't out yet but after I had some issues with my M9 Leica kindly replaced it for me.

We looked at bags while we were in Shinjuku. After some thinking I decided to go back and get another Billingham to use as a briefcase. I went with a Hadley large with the original canvas material vs. the newer fibrenyte which I had problems with last time. I found my Ona bag just a little too small for me given all of the travel I do. I need to carry a lot of stuff on almost a daily basis; MacBook, charger, 1TB drive for Lightroom, various chargers, Beats Studio Headphones, Pens, Android Tablet, Passport, keys, wallet, money, and often other things. When you travel as much as I do you basically need everything you need to do your job in your briefcase. I don't really have things I need for working on my desk at work.

Shinjuku Maynds Tower. Where I worked for the first 10 years. I like my current office much better...

The source of many of my McDonald's posts a few years ago...

I ended up buying my bag at Yodobashi. I don't love their customer service and try to avoid the shop but the reality is they are the only ones with inventory in Japan.