One day at Kabukicho #DAY73 - I encountered the Evangelion Unit-01 at Kabukicho.
As I was wandering through Kabukicho as usual, I encountered Eva's Unit-01 when I suddenly went to TŌYOKO. To be honest, I don't have any particular attachment to Eva, but well, I took a photo for the sake of a souvenir. Normally, I take photos with a 75mm lens on my Leica, but in these moments, the wide-angle RX100 nonchalantly works very well.
いつも通りに歌舞伎町をさまよっていて、ふとトー横に行ったらエヴァの初号機と遭遇した。正直、個人的には別にエヴァに何の思い入れもないんだけど、まあ記念にとりあえず撮っておいた。普段は 75mm をライカにつけて撮っているけど、こういうとっさの時に広角の RX100III がしれっと大活躍してくれる。
YAKITORI.
焼き鳥。
I was quite busy since morning on this day, and by the time I arrived at Kabukicho in the evening, I was actually quite exhausted. Even though I was physically exhausted, seeing friends always uplifts me mentally, so there's no choice to cancel the plans.
この日は朝からいろいろと忙しくって、歌舞伎町に到着した夜には実は結構ヘロヘロだった。ただ体力的にはヘロヘロでもやっぱり友達と会えば精神的には元気になれるわけで予定をキャンセルするとかって選択肢はない。
I was tired, but once I started taking photos, it was like a switch flipped, and I kept walking and shooting endlessly. I also wandered around the area from Ichiban-gai to Seibu Shinjuku Station, where I don't usually go.
疲れてはいたんだけど、写真を撮り出したらなんかのスイッチが入ったように延々と撮りながら歩く歩く。普段あまり行くことのない一番街から西武新宿駅の辺りもさまよう。
Even if I'm not sure if the photos will be usable, I still take photos of things that catch my interest, just in case. Not knowing if a photo will be usable until it's developed is reminiscent of the film era in a way. Sometimes, photos that seem unusable in preview turn out to be surprisingly usable after development.
使える写真になるかどうかは分からなくても、とりあえず気になったものは撮る、撮る。使えるかどうかは現像の時にならないとわからないのは、ある意味フィルム時代と似た感覚。プレビューだと使えなそうでも意外と現像で使える写真になるのもあるし。
In Kabukicho, the ban on smoking in public places is merely a face. In reality, there are various spots, particularly in front of Kabukicho Tower and other places, that function as de facto smoking areas. Moreover, there is only one designated smoking area hidden in an alley within Kabukicho.
歌舞伎町では路上喫煙禁止は完全に建前になっていて、実際は特に歌舞伎町タワーの前とか、いろんな場所に事実上の喫煙所みたいになっている場所がいろいろある。そもそも歌舞伎町の中でちゃんとした喫煙所って裏路地に一箇所しかないからな。
I thought the fashion of a guy standing foreground was cool, so I took a photo. It's a fashion that I could never pull off, but it looks great. There are so many people though.
手前に立っている子のファッションがかっこいいなーって思って撮っちゃった。自分には絶対できないファッションだけどいいよなー。それにしても人が多いな。
I've looked to figure out how to capture this building on the left for a long time, and I've actually taken numerous shots of it in the past. But finally, I feel like I managed to frame it in a slightly better way this time.
この左側のビルってずーっとどうやって撮ったらいいかなーって悩んでていて、実際に過去に何回も撮っているんだけど、やっと今回ちょっといい感じに切り取れた気がする。
A seemingly close couple in front of Kabukicho police box.
歌舞伎町交番の前で仲良さそうなカップル。
I often walk around this area, but I've never noticed the Ramen Jiro sign here before. I guess it's easy to miss with so many signs cluttered in the city.
この辺りってよく歩いているんだけど、こんなところに黄色いラーメン二郎の看板があるのに今まで気づかなかった。街中看板だらけだからしょうがないか。
Actually, it's a photo with a strange perspective.
実は変なパースの写真。
It's past 3am, people finally start leaving the streets. At this hour, most of the people walking around are usually drunk. The overall tense feeling of the city is also starting to dissipate quite a bit.
深夜3時をまわって、やっと街から人が退いてくる。この時間になると街を歩いている人はだいたい酔っ払い。街全体のピリピリした感じもだいぶなくなってくる。
I wonder where these guys who have probably finished their enjoyable drinking will head next. Since the last train has long passed, I wonder if they'll try to hail a taxi or if they'll spend time somewhere until the first train.
楽しく飲み終えたであろうこの子達はこの後どこへ向かうのだろう。終電なんてとっくに終わっているしタクシーを拾うのか、それとも始発までどこかで時間を潰すのか。
This time, I had too many photos I wanted to include, so the article ended up being a bit longer than usual. The actual time spent taking the photos wasn't significantly longer compared to other times though. Perhaps it's easier to write an article when there are around 8 photos in it. There were 14 photos after all, this time.
See you then.
今回は掲載したい写真がいつもよりも多過ぎて記事もちょっと長くなっちゃった。実際に撮っていた時間はいつもと比べてそれほど長かったってわけでもないんだけど。やっぱりひとつの記事で写真は8枚程度だと記事が書きやすいのかも。今回は14枚だったもんな。
ほなまた。
