Changing Impressions

    After experiencing the change of seasons in Japan, I think I also changed. First of all, I learned a lot of the language which made me understand verbal expression and Japanese people’s behavior related to the use of the language. Also, living with a Japanese family helped me understand the Japanese society from inside of my house.

    Coming to Japan wasn’t part of my plans , but now, after coming to Japan I see how it was the best decision I ever made in my life. Three months before the Kansai Gaidai program started  I was just looking for any exchange when I found out they offered scholarship for  studying in Japan.At the time,  all I knew about Japan was that the capital is Tokyo, It is a very rich country , the  people are very hard workers, and  they travel with big groups everywhere taking pictures with their giant cameras. I also knew they were physically similar to Chinese and Koreans, but I didn’t know how different they were when considering their behavior.

   

     When I initially arrived in Japan I could not speak a word in Japanese and all I had was my bad English. And now, one year later, I look back and realize how I grew. Living abroad not only  changes your perspective on another culture, but also on the world. When you understand that one culture is different than yours, but not necessarily worse, it is a huge step in comprehending all of  the cultures of this planet.

    

    During my first months, I got really upset with some of the Japanese rules. At the time I  lived in a seminar house and I got angry many times at small things like not being able to invite a friend to have dinner in the dorm. I wondered why they had such rules, and why the Japanese students never complained and made a big deal about it, and protested and boooommm, war! I realized at that moment that I had the wrong focus! While I was thinking about rules and fight, the Japanese were considering living in harmony and they were thinking  about the group benefit. Then, I understood how beautiful it is to fight for your rights  , but also, how wonderful it is when a man gives up his own benefit for  others.

   

     Japanese people are not perfect, but who is? Every time I see something I dislike in the Japanese culture, I think about my own culture and realize I dislike many things about it too. When I meet a Japanese person that I don’t like too much, I think about myself, and find out how similar we both are.

Visual differences ( and similarities) between Japan , China, Vietnam , Cambodia and Indonesia

    I have been traveling through Asia , and I've notice many special characteristics of each country I have been.  I took many pictures and I believe they express my visual impressions of Asia.

Can you guess where they are from?

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Answers: 

Where are they from?

1   Vietnam.  Woman selling flowers in Hanoi.

2  China.  Grandfather and Grandson in front of their house in Beijing.

3  China.   Amy is a singer in a Luxury hotel in Shanghai.

4  Vietnam.  Vietnamese girls coming back from work.

5  Japan.  Japanese girl from Osaka at a Danjiri festival.

6  Cambodia.  Cambodian homeless girl.

7  Cambodia.  Cambodian kids playing while their mother is praying.

8  Indonesia.  Unforgettable face of Jakarta.

9  Indonesia.  Indonesian muslim girls.

10  Indonesia.  Boy chilling in a square  in Jakarta.

11  Indonesia.  Woman selling clothes on   a beach in Bali.

Where are these places?

1  Vietnam.  Food market.

2  China. Walking in the streets of Beijing.

3  China. Top floor of a luxury hotel in Shanghai.

4  Japan.  Orange picking in Fukuoka.

5  China.  Food market in Shanghai.

6  Cambodia.  Floating Village. 

7  Indonesia. monkey "making money "in a busy square of Jakarta.

8  Indonesia.  Seaweed farm in Nusa Lembongan. 

9  Cambodia. Grasshoppers are a dish in Cambodia.

10  Vietnam. Vietnamese preparing food on the side walk in Hanoi.

11  Indonesia.  Seaweed farm in Nusa Lembongan. 

Japanese Kindergarten

    The Japanese kindergarten in quite different from the kindergarten model followed in the West.  I became very interested in Japanese children’s education after living with a Japanese family with a 4 year old boy. Kids in Japan definitely have less everyday tasks than kids in America or Brazil , for example.

    For example, they don’t have to clean up after themselves, they have many things that they request as fast as their parents can run to bring it to them and in kindergarten class they also have lots of freedom to do what want. 

My host brother's kindergarten class consists of one teacher and approximately 30 kids.  Unlike western schools, the teacher is not supposed to interfere with the actions of the children.  In Japan, kids learn that fighting is wrong through social interactions and sometimes by fighting and being hurt. If the teacher interferes with the social interactions in the class, the kids will never know how a fight can hurt and be bad. It’s a very interesting method that seems to really work, as when these kids advance to middle school and beyond, their behavior is much disciplined.

    I went to a Kindergarten festival and it was very interesting to see how the kids are noisy and they don’t seem to care about the festival very much. But it was amazing to see how they stand nearly four hours of festival, changing clothes and doing various performances without complaining. In contrast, a 4 year old child in Brazil would perform for no more then 15 minutes and would surly complain every time some one asked for something as simple as taking a picture. 

The Inspiring Nara

    

   Japan's first capital, Nara is a stunning place located in the Kansai region of Japan. When we think about  traveling in Japan we usually think about Tokyo or Kyoto and usually Nara isn’t in the list. But, Nara has a rich History with many temples shrines and ruins.

    

    One of the most stunning sightseeing is the temple Todai-ji, where the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha is situated. This statue is something beyond words … I have seen many pictures of the “big “ Buddha, but none of them were able to express what that statue is . It is definitely something you have to experience on your own to fully appreciate.

    

Daibutsu of Todai-ji: Height: 14.98 m,Face: 5.33 m ,Eyes: 1.02 m. It weighs 500 tonnes

Deer in Nara is sacred, designated as National Treasures and  protected as such

Omikuji :  random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan

Incense burner at Todai-ji temple:  the smoke is believed to have healing power

  Besides the Temples and shrines, Nara has something else, difficult to describe. I guess the beautiful trees changing leaves in the autumn the peaceful lakes, the deer everywhere makes Nara a unique place, where Japanese families gather to enjoy themselves.

      Observe the japanese eating, talking to each other and playing with the deer  makes me realize how rush and work isn’t everything in the Japanese people’s life . Praying and admiring the nature are also important for them.


For more information about Nara, check this website: 
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2165.html

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz . Photo : John Keatley

    You certainly know at least 2 or 3 pictures taken by Annie Leibovitz. Her images helped to create the face of the magazine s RollingStone e Vanity Fair. Annie is a very creative photographer. She is able to capture the brightness of life in her photos.  

   As Annie puts herself into the lives of the people she photograph , and by interacting with them, she can absorb their details and express them thrown beautiful portraits.

Jack White and Meg White ( The White Stripes Band). Photo: Annie Leibovitz

  
    Her pictures for sure uplift many people’s spirits and it makes her job very inspiring for her audience .As she enhances the subjects of what she is going to photograph Annie Leibovitz transforms what could be an ordinary photo into a work of art. Her pictures look to me like stunning paintings.

Keira Knightley. Photo: Annie Leibovitz

The director Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz. Photo : Annie Leibovitz

James Nachtwey and the might of the image

David Turnley, James Nachtwey and a number of other photojournalists under fire during the 1994 elections in South Africa

    "I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated. "
    
     These are the first words you see when you click on this link: www.jamesnachtwey.com/ 

  
    The photographer James Nachtwey is truly an artist with a cause.

   On the internet, you can find many James Nachtwey pictures in blogs and forums.  I have noticed that people comment on his photos by saying that they feel helpless and not able to stop the situations that the pictures are portraying. This saddens me because the purpose of his work is largely misunderstood. We all can do something. The war is inside of us, the war is us. You don’t need to go to Africa to see hunger, poverty is just next door.

   I think that his pictures are meant to be more than art, they are meant to be journalism.  If you look at his photos and see first how the color and the lights have a good balance, but don’t feel motivated to somehow change those scenes, the purpose is lost.  

Personally, after seeing his pictures, an indescribable feeling arises, something like shock followed by guilt. His pictures speak with us and transfer emotion through a visual language that everyone can understand. Seeing his portraits makes me rethink the role that I must play in this world. It steers my direction and makes me reevaluate what life is worth living for.

   It motivates me but at the same time makes me feel not deserving to be called a human.  While I sit worried with which clothes to wear to the next party, the people in the photographs are suffering in the most appalling ways.

A woman taken to an emergency feeding center in Somalia established by the Irish charity CONCERN waits for food and medical attention. Photo: James Nachtwey

Bardera, Somalia, November 1992.Mother lifts up the body of her child, a famine victim, to bring it to the grave. Photo: James Nachtwey

Sudan, 1993 - Famine victim in a feeding center.. Photo : James Nachtwey

After watching a movie in class about Nachtwey’s job I observe how some of my peers feel down, but the next day they’ve already forgotten and returned to their lives. It makes me wonder that if sometimes his photos rather them making people more sensitive, they actually make people more cold and indifferent to the horrors of war.

   After seeing the same pictures many times, we get used to it and this can provoke the worse result: becoming numb to the pain. We have to fight against the inertia and understand that James Nachtwey takes these pictures in order to convey the impact of the event and to allow those people portrayed to share their suffering with the world so humanity does not forget the tragedy and the same mistakes are never repeated.

Afghanistan, 1996 - Mourning a brother killed by a Taliban rocket. Photo: James Nachtwey

Bosnia, 1993 - Mourning a soldier killed in the civil war. Photo James Nachtwey

James Nachtwey got the TED Prize 2007 and  this was his Wish :

"There's a vital story that needs to be told, and I wish forTED to help me gain access to it and then to help me come up with innovative and exciting ways to use news photography in the digital era."

Check it :

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war.html