Around Kichijoji Station (JR line and Keio Inokashira line)

 Yes a break at last! I was able to walk around Kichijoji station this weekend. Located on JR Chuo line and on Keio Inokashira line. Lots of Japanese people choose Kichijoji as one of the best place to live due to the popularity of shopping street and how well organized the city itself is. Also Kichijoji is well known for the highly energetic shopping streets in Tokyo!

Kichijoji station (still under construction of 2013)

  

  One of the reasons they say its energetic is due to the huge amount of people visiting in a day. According to statistic I saw on a television program in Japan, it is about 80,000 people in a day which is higher than the amount of people visiting Tokyo Disney land o.0!

Harmonika Yokocho, small shopping street from the existing from showa era

          There are lots of reasons why so many people come here to shop. From what I saw, the city is well organized even though there are famous department shops like Parco, Tokyu, Atre, and Yodobashi Camera (electronic giant shop) and also small unique shops like as if they are coexisting well. I actually took some photos there that I found interesting.

耳をすませば (Whisper of the Heart) Visiting Seiseki Sakuragaoka station

First thing I see, a guide to seeing the actual location in film

    I am one of the many Japanese people who love Studio Ghibli's animations and recently found out the anime "Whisper of the Heart" (Mimi wo sumase ba) 1995 was made from an existing location in Tokyo. During the movie, the station that appeared is called "Sugi no miya" station, however it is actually portrayed after Seiseki Sakuragaoka Station (one of station on Keio Line). Last weekend I was able to take some photo of the locations to show the settings in the anime shown is really similar to right now.




                                                          

I am actually surprised, finding many couples visiting this site. After all, this movie was actually about a young love story. =)








 Chikyu-Ya, an antique shop that stood on top of the hill at the rotary road (in anime). Although it didnt exist in real, the mayor of this town actually built one as a memorial. It is said that if you insert your message, there is high chance of getting it granted, its a post box and you can insert msg inside.

Barron on left and Louise on right

The rotary road on top of the hill

rotary road in the anime

inside a shop i found this ^^

UV Filters: Are They Essential?

Kenko Zeta Protector (W) 52mm

  So what are these "UV filters and what are these for?" lots of people ask this question when they first step into the world of photography and I have to admit I really didnt know about it. Simply put, a "UV filter" is a filter/glass you put in front of your dslr lens to prevent it from scratches and dirt coming into the lens. It can also block UV light coming to the camera itself, but nowadays UV light doesnt affect much in terms of optics of lens. 

  People who argue against using this point out an extra piece of glass will cripple the photo quality, while people support the use say its better to scratch the filter then scratching a $1,000 lens. 

 I actually support the latter, since once the lens is scratched once, there is a possibility of it being unusable in future. I always ask myself, "would you want to walk bare naked in a bush?" NO! Same thing applies to taking photo's in wild, higher chances you might scratch the expensive lens outside. 

For those who are considering a new lens, it might be a worth to consider buying a UV filter. Not just for protection but for investing for the future. The higher end lens tend to be used relatively long period so it would be wise to know there is some form of protection. As always, these UV filters range from cheap to expensive, (in my experience about 15-100USD) and I wont advise buying the most expensive ones. I have been using a 20-30$ for my Nikon 35mm  1.8G and 55-200mm 4-5.6G lens and it has actually held up quite well. 

I hope this clears up some questions for many of you.