Favourite Pictures of 2009

My favourite picture each month, chosen for the image itself or for the subject matter. Also check out MTC:s review with his more scenic monthly take of the past year.

January. ATR research project final presentation at Miraikan hall in Tokyo. Mike Mistry, here, was one of the doctoral students at ATR. The following month I start on a new project at Kyoto university and NAIST.

February. Ritsuko gives me these insanely cool tools made of chocolate. I spend a happy Sunday afternoon trying to shoot them, with this as the result.

March. I go playing with the Handy Box and try multiple exposures for low-light shooting. The results range from "interesting" to really good. This is the corner of Nagahori and Sakaisuji.

April. Difficult month - I must have half a dozen real favourite pictures here. This is a rainy afternoon in Shinsaibashi, when the city is at its most city-like.

May. It's Golden Week, the weather is getting hot and most people are off work. This man is obviously not, though. I catch him on his lunch break and he happily adopts a suitably miserable expression when I ask to take his picture.

June. Swine flu has broken out in the Kobe-Osaka area and people are worried about infection. Nankinmachi, the Kobe Chinatown, sees a huge drop in visitors as companies and schools cancel trips. Most stores are still open and gradually the visitor numbers edge back to normal again.

July. Another month of favourites. Here's a couple of nightclub hosts and their dog loitering in the shade outside their apartment building in Shimanouchi.

August. The owner of Omiya kushikatsu restaurant in Shinsaibashi. This kushikatsu place is a favourite of mine, but I don't get to come here so often. Ritsuko went to Sweden for a week while I stay behind to work. Cooking by yourself isn't all that fun so I take the opportunity to indulge.

September. The Huge, Friendly Duck appears in Okawa river near Nakanoshima for the first time. People are impressed, and the duck shows up for a repeat performance later this winter. It seems, now, that it will be a regular visitor on the Osaka waterways.

October. Meeting in Waco city, Saitama. Wet autumn weather, with that wonderful faint shimmering autumn light and the muted, distinct colors that tell you summer now is well and truly over.

November. The Honmachi building complex is swept by winter light during my morning commute.

December. Last Shinkansen home to Osaka from Tokyo. Most passengers are weary business people that are half-asleep, slightly drunk or both.