Japan in the Rain

WHEN… I went to Japan in 2014 and 2015 I had lots of luck regarding the weather, you can see this when looking at my photos from Kyoto and Okinawa. Things were different in 2016 – it rained about half of the time. At least we had subtropical temperatures so it wasn’t cold in the rain. While it’s not perfect to have a rain jacket and an umbrella with you all the time I really enjoyed the mood, especially in the traditional surroundings. The areas looked quite mystical and enchanted. On the streets I enjoyed the atmosphere in the rainy nights, as long as I don’t freeze I have no problem with the rain ;).

Equipment

When it rains usually there is less available light – so on rainy days I chose lenses with a large maximum aperture to gather as much light as possible. The following photos were usually shot with the Fuji X-T2 with the XF23mm F1.4 lens and the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with the Panasonic Leica Nocticron lens. Both combinations are not weather sealed (well, the Fuji cam is but not the lens) so I took the photos with one hand while holding the umbrella in the other hand.

Photos at daylight

Here are some examples from Osaka and Kyoto at daylight:

Photos at night

These are some impressions from the walks I took at night, again from Osaka and Kyoto:

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Most people put their cameras into their bags when it starts to rain but you can make quite interesting photos and some rain drops don’t hurt the camera – try it out.