Tuesday in Tokyo
Tokyo has a very strange vibe to it right now. I have never experienced something like this before. There is a lot of concern with people about what is going on with the nuclear reactors. There is a lot of misinformation flying around and people are concerned if they are being told everything or which news reports to listen to. A lot of the facts and figures being thrown around are difficult for people to digest and understand adding to the confusion and concern. Trains continue to run at limited capacity. Tokyo Electric Power is running rolling blackouts across Japan. Start Tuesday... I have had a lot of people ask me what I am shooting these pictures with. All of the pictures for the last month or so were shot with a Leica M9 and a Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 lens for the most part they are shot at .95, iso 160 and various shutter speeds.
I have been been taking the train to save my gas as I can only fill 20 liters at a time each night. I walked past my corner station and there was 'sold out' sign.
One of my pet peeves recently has been the lack of respect for the 'no parking' signs for bikes. One place that I past each morning is the Tsutaya Video Shop which typically has 100s of bikes in front of it but today it was completely empty.
A man reads the latest rolling blackout schedule posted at Nakameugro Station.
A man waits for the train at Nakameguro Station.
The Yamanote Line platform heading for Shinjuku is very crowded.
Tokyo 3/15/2011
Yodobashi Camera's Phone Center is typically packed with people trying the latest phones from DoCoMo, SoftBank and AU but today was deserted.
Lumine Department Store (think Macy's) announced it was closing for a few days...
Students collect donations for the victims of the earthquake.
News Crews set up in front of Shinjuku Station
Shinjuku Station is virtually empty. This station is bigger than Penn Station in NYC.
A man cries while watching the last news on the reactors. I can only image he has relatives living up north.
This street brings you into Shibuya Station. It can often take 20 or 30 minutes to pass by car but today it is wide open.
Shibuya Crossing dubbed 'The busiest crossing" in the world often having more than 3,000 people cross during a single light change....
...I found all of the people. They were at Tokyo FoodShow below Shibuya Station. I have never seen it this crowded.
I went looking for gas this evening but quickly learnt that my neighborhood gas station was not the only one without gas...
I passed Shibuya Crossing on my way home. It was surreal to see it blacked out. The lights of Q-Front which typically glow so bright they light up the crossing were off...
Thanks for stopping by today...