*Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/1000s, f/4, ISO125*

I returned to Japan the past two weeks to chaperone my parents on the Tohoku Travel 2024 New Nombiri Central Japan Tour #20 with 30+ other Hawaii residents. I learned some very important lessons from the last visit in which I did not complete the blog series. I had a very difficult time piecing together my photos with the story of the tour last time because I focused on photo artistry instead of documenting the trip so I did not have cohesive photos to connect what happened while I was there, just photos of when I thought something was interesting enough to take the camera out, choose a lens, a subject, an angle, and adjust settings, sometimes setting up the tripod and putting in filters…

This time I was determined to not let my camera gear get in the way. I packed just the fixed lens Fujifilm X100VI, an adapter and a cute little filter system. I focused more on documentary-type photos and sprinkled in some artistry when I had a bit of time to mess around which isn’t much when on a tour that’s constantly moving from one place to another. I also did not spend a lot of time waking up early or exploring in the evenings. I think this ended up being a great decision! The camera was small and light enough that I carried it just about everywhere I went, and as a result, I have a lot more photos this go-round.

*Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/255s, f/5.6, ISO6400*

Somehow my camera had a weird shutter speed setting that I couldn’t figure out how to “fix.” I ended up resetting the camera to factory default a couple of times this trip. That said, it didn’t affect the image too much. I call this day .5 because we landed in the later part of the day, so our goal was to get through the airport security checks and get on the bus out of Kansai International Airport to get on a bus that would drive us to Kyoto.

When we got to the bus, the Tohoku team quickly loaded a van with our checked luggage to delivery to the first hotel, got us on the bus in assigned seats, and loaded us with awesome Japanese snacks to try!

*Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/130s, f/2, ISO3200*

2+ hours later…
We got to our first hotel which had a unique window view of another hotel that had a wedding gazebo setup.

After checking in and settling in, we met the rest of the tour group in line for dinner at Le Plaisir which I must say, had a very delicious dinner buffet!

*Fujifilm X100VI 23mm f/2: 1/130s, f/4, ISO3200*

That concludes day .5

Central Japan Tour Day .5