streetcorner's photostream  

View #11: A young woman emerges from under her umbrella - Tokyo 東京 (Japan 日本)
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Tokyo is a city of 20 million souls, yet capturing one among the multitude is a daunting challenge. Not that the faces lack interest - there is much beauty, intensity and expression that deserve to be immortalized in Japan's capital. But I have found it hard to overcome the shyness many Tokyoites in front of the camera. While the rest of Asia beams and smiles, Japan lowers its head and rushes away.

That makes such encounters all the more precious. She was waiting for the bus, slightly leaning against the fence. And rather than turning away, she gave me a couple seconds of herself.
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More pictures and stories on my website www.bricerichard.com.

View #10: Night view of Tokyo from the top of the Tokyo Municipal Government Tower - Tokyo 東京 (Japan 日本)
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Tokyo's statistics is in itself a force to reckon with. 12 million people within the city walls, 35 million for the greater Tokyo area, all compressed to form the second greatest population density in the world, right after New York.

But beyond the number, it is the force and energy of these lives piled on together that make Tokyo such an exciting place to experience. Behind each of these windows, dozens of lives are buzzing, all busy washing dishes, dissing the boss, mending a broken heart or meeting new friends.

From a snapshot of this city at night, it is a million lives that let themselves be imagined.
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More pictures and stories on my website www.bricerichard.com.

View #8: Young women dressed in Yukatas walking to meet their date - Kanazawa - 金沢市 (Japan)
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One of the charms of Kanazawa, a mid-sized city located to the North West of Tokyo, is its nightlife.
At dusk, hordes of young Japanese women wrapped in adorable yukatas take over the streets. Some meet their boyfriends at the nearest video game station, while others spend hours at the konbini buying small sandwiches and candy, or enjoy a quiet girl's talk at the nearest McDonald.

While I have always found young women in Tokyo to be demure and shy, the young ladies of Kanazawa struck me as playful and laidback.
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More pictures and stories on my website www.bricerichard.com.

A little monk is attending a math class in a small monastery of Bago's countryside - Bago, Burma
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Life in Khyakhetwine, like in all other Burmese Buddhist monasteries, is strictly codified. Right before dawn, the monks wake up and, as the sun rises slowly over the palm trees, tour the neighbourhood to beg for food. Comes breakfast, then a few classes, then lunch, which must be taken before 11 a.m. The rest of the day is spent studying, napping, meditating and playing soccer, until 6 p.m. when a long session of prayer and meditation closes the day.

Children from poor families – as well as orphans from remote villages sent to the city by local monks – attend monastic schools, where they learn to read, write, and count, and study fundamentals of sciences, history, geography and Buddhism. Official statistics estimate that, in 2005, there were 1,200 monastic schools in Burma.
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See the whole documentary on www.rangooncocoon.com and the slideshow at www.vimeo.com/12957418

More pictures at: www.bricerichard.com

View #7: A side street in Shibuya (渋谷) at night, out of focus - Tokyo (Japan)
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One of the 23 wards of Tokyo, Shibuya is the beating heart of the capital. Home to the city's biggest companies, most vibrant fashion and nightlife hotspots (Sendagaya 千駄ヶ谷), the famous Yoyogi park and half a dozen universities, Shibuya is a world within a world, a demon with a thousand faces. It is notably the birthplace of several Japanese legends (such as the story of Hachiko), and fashion trends - Kogal and Shibuya girls, to name a few.

Though inherently a place of fun, I've always thought thought Shibuya to be best enjoyed through the blur of tears. Or the haze of alcohol.
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More pictures and stories on my website www.bricerichard.com.