07

Although I have lived in Asia for nearly 17 years, it was only recently that I had the privilege of visiting Japan for the first time.

This past April and May, I spent nearly one month in Osaka shooting a commercial assignment for InterContinental Hotels.  The creative brief, by its very nature, ensured that I spent nearly all day and night inside a hotel.  My reprieves from hotel living were generally measured in minutes in the mornings and afternoons and a couple of hours in the evenings.

However, even if only briefly, I relished wandering the streets in Osaka's bustling Umeda and Kitashinchi districts -- window shopping, people watching and generally observing the world go by during beautiful early spring days.  As always, my iPhone was close at hand, and I thoroughly enjoyed shooting a variety of street photographs of the places and characters I encountered in those fleeting moments.

Simply put, I absolutely loved my time in Japan.  I felt a true affinity for the people and the nuances of the culture.  And for the first time in many years -- perhaps since I first visited Asia as a teenager nearly 20 years ago -- I felt a true sense of culture shock.  Crazy as it may sound, these feelings of isolation and displacement exhilarated me, making me feel alive.

I am well aware that I only scratched the surface of Japan. But, honestly, it now feels like an itch that I can't seem to stop scratching.

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*Waratte or 笑って translates to English as "Smile".

One day, my client, my assistant and I were walking to a taxi and, as we walked past a building, I was struck by the light and the repeating pattern made by the pillars.  I stopped and lined-up a photograph, waiting for someone to walk through my frame. These three young women strolled by and -- just as they did -- my Japanese client called out "Waratte!!" and the young woman in the middle turned and looked directly into my lens while giving a little smile and wave.  This photograph is located in the top right-hand corner above.