So back to normality as we know it, an odd concept as both meg and I feel genuinely torn between two countries, but with a little after holiday glow left and time to look at the process, the results and what I would do differently next time.

2700 images taken over ten days, which for me is not much, but it covered what was needed.

The weather was on the whole great for travel with mid to high 20’s C, little rain or humidity and no wind to speak of, but the strong end of summer light and sometimes tired looking plant life was not the best for my subject matter. Maybe a fortnight from now would offer Autumn colour, but school holidays here force our timing.

Images taken under these conditions were surprisingly ok though, so lesson learned. I especially like the Pen F files, which recover well and have that bigger format look.

My shift away from street images was the result of many factors.

A more wary subject matter, some self consciousness, the less “natural” Kyoto environment (street becomes both more interesting and real, but harder in less touristy locations) and maybe a feeling of “done this”.

My re-discovered love of the landscape and found things though is interesting.

Gear.

I could have done the whole trip with the Pen F (or EM10 Mk2) with the 15 and 45 or a 12-60 and the 17 or 25. Really any combination that could handle general snaps and some occasional low light.

I bought a small street satchel bag in Kobe and used it for the rest of the trip. We called it “The TARDIS” because it held my camera kit of body and two or three lenses, all my travel basics and other bits, but was only the size of a large format paper back book with the little two lens Domke insert inside.

The Porter bag became surplus, the Domke F7 was an annoying hindrance (but was bought there for here, not here for there) and the backpack was a little big in hind-sight.

Next time;

Lowe Pro ProTactic 350 to get there (its smaller size may not attract the “weight police” every single leg of the trip!) It is also a handy foot rest on the international legs (no room in domestic) and the semi rigid structure adds some extra confidence. Then the little Kobe TARDIS or my little Crumpler or Kata bags, maybe the cross-body Turnstyle 10 or Mindset options.

No laptop. I may use rotating cards and a dual card camera for memory security (well used EM1 Mk2/G9 maybe) or not as I am yet to have a failure (but I probably just jinxed that). No Zoom H1 or OSMO Pocket as neither were used. Buying replacements other there is possible, but they are about 10-25% dearer new (second hand though is not overly risky and better priced than here).

I took 200Gb of cards and used about 32-40 over three cameras.

Two books. I read half of one on the way over and had to stow it until the return trip. The Rivers Of London series are recommended reading for that pick-up, put-down style of reading.

Fewer clothes, because yet again, I bought clothes there which I did, even coming home with a few items unworn. This is a newbie traveller sin, I should know better, but it had been a while. I consider myself a reasonably fit, slightly stocky average male, so sizing there was fine if I remembered to “round up” slightly.

Purchases were limited to several watches, which has become a semi-hobby from about two years ago (post coming on this generally), some clothes and the display Domke F7. My wife bought even less. I left with an 11 kg suit case and came back with 14.

More to think about, but overall no major faux pas, except over packing, but in our defence, we were expecting hot weather, with the possibility of not, so tough to get perfect.