Japan

: Fairytale Waterfall
After browsing through my image folders recently I discovered a hidden gem from a trip through the northern area of Japan. During my stay in the prefecture Aomori I spend a couple of days close to lake Towada and the Oirase stream and found many beautiful waterfalls. This one was for sure one of the most remarkable waterfalls in this area. Interestingly everything was still in beautiful lush green colours when I visited in late August, I think this will look even more beautiful in autumn. I would really like to re-visit and be right in time for peak autumn season next time!

: Mountain Roads of Japan
During my last trip to Japan I was hiking and road tripping together with friend Alex. Some of the roads we encountered were really scary, especially in the higher mountain areas, where we could only find bendy one-lane roads, sometimes those roads were even blocked by recently fallen rocks, caused by ordinary slides or minor earthquakes. This means we had to got out of the car and remove rocks blocking the road frequently. In this picture I show you another scary element: oncoming trucks! I was lucky enough to get a drone shot with big truck transporting wood. I guess it took a while until we got used to those roads and situations 😉

: Stormy Yakushima
Although I never got into a storm on Yakushima, the weather above our heads looked stormy at times. Fortunately, the worst weather we experienced during the whole trip was some drizzle and cold blowing winds. On our last day of the hike we met an old Japanese man who told us that he re-visited the island several times, because he got rained in during several trips and was happy with the weather this time, that's when we realised that we didn't really experience bad weather 😉

: Wild Oirase
This will be the first picture of the Oirase river, located in eastern Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Expect more in the next weeks 😉 It is the only river draining Lake Towada which is a large caldera lake on the border of Aomori and Akita Prefectures. The upper part of the river forms a scenic gorge with numerous rapids and waterfalls and is a major tourist attraction of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park. I spend nearly three days only walking, cycling and photographing besides the river, it was such a beautiful area to discver. Although it is a popular tourist attraction everything still looks very natural and well preserved.

: Welcome to the Jungle 2
Another impression of the dense vegetation besides the Oirase River in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. It was already late August when I visited this place but everything still appeared in lush green tones, I guess it was not long before the area would have shown the first display of autumn colours. Next time I've to re-visit during autumn for a completely different colour palette.

: Go with the Flow
While photographing the Oirase River in Japan this was one of the few occasions where it just had to walk into the river to get a an immersive shot of the lovely scene. Now after seeing this green "tunnel view" I'm very curious how this would look like during peak autmn season when everything appears in yellowish and red glory. I'm also still fascinated by how easily accessible the whole area was and how much fun we had while driving along the river with rental bikes, having maximum flexibility to go and park everywhere besides the river. There is even a behind the scenes photo where I just had set up my tripod in the stream: https://www.facebook.com/philipp.lutz.photography/photos/a.342808385745064.99881.342799929079243/1314515398574353 Enjoy 😉

: Fog Kingdom
During our hike on Yakushima in Japan Alex and me experienced beautiful low hanging clouds constantly moving in and out, it even lasted until sunset which was happening only 30min after taking from this shot.

: Good Morning Kyushu
On the first day of our roadtrip on Kyushu (southernmost main-island of Japan) my friend Alex and I were blessed with a beautiful sunrise, one of very few unfortunately. This is an aerial view over the south-east of Kyushu, seen from the southern tip at Cape Sata. Only when I saw this view myself I noticed how mountainous Japan really was. The following days we learned this fact the hard way by driving over dangerous single-way mountain roads for hours, sometimes blocked by recently fallen rocks, caused by ordinary slides or minor earthquakes.

: Surrounded by Fog
During our four day hike on Yakushima in Japan my friend Alex and I got surrounded by fog! Below one of those big boulders I found shelter over the night.

: Enchanted Yakushima
Only on the 3rd day of our 4 day long hike on Yakushima my friend NicolasAlexanderOtto and me got lucky with the weather conditions for sunset shooting despite the wet and dull weather during the whole day and the day before. We were also lucky to have stopped hiking early to search for a suitable place to stay overnight on that particular day. Just when I finished building up my night camp the sky broke open. This is an aerial shot towards Miyanoura on the northeastern coast of Yakushima.

: Volcanic Creation
Every time I'm exposed to volcanism it's so fascinating for me. It gives the area a very interesting and distinct shape and due to the mix of minerals which were part of the ejecta different plants grow on the surface, which gives the area also a distinct colour. It's the kind of natural art which impresses me the most! This aerial picture was taken around Mount Aso in Japan.

: Hidden Treasure
This is a nice memory from the lush forests along the Oirase River in northern Japan, taken back in 2015. Guess what, I'll be back in Japan together with my buddy Alex in a couple of days, but this time in the sub-tropics in the very south of Japan. Wish us luck with the weather and therefore with some epic lush scenery 😉

: Hidden Gem
This literally was a hidden gem, a little bit off the main trail. Well, I discovered it while I was already walking through the dense forest because I didn't want to be limited by the views I got while walking only on the trail. At this waterfall it was very fortunate that I didn't approach it from the front, I would have probably walked away immediately because the front is not very photogenic and there were so many more waterfalls I wanted to see. When I approach the waterfall from the left I immediately saw the beautiful bend with all those lovely lush plants around which act as the perfect frame for the waterfall. In the end I was really happy that I discovered this composition so quickly because there was so much more to discover on that very day. The waterfall is called is Kudan (九段の滝) and is located at the Oirase River, close to Lake Towada in Japan.

: Forest Magic 2
Another one from the beautiful lush forest in Shirakami-Sanchi, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Lately I'm missing these lush colours a lot, winter has only been dull so far here in Germany, not even white, only grey and brown, can't await spring!

: Cascade of Joy
The Anmon Falls (暗門の滝) have been one of the highlights of my visit to North Japan last year. It is a collective name for three waterfalls in the forests of the Shirakami-Sanchi World Heritage site in the northern Tohoku region of Japan, stretching between Akita and Aomori Prefecture. Here you can see the highest waterfall which drops 42 m, the second drops 37 m and the third drops 26 m. It's a beautiful and peaceful place which seemingly is not visited by many tourists during rainy days in autumn 😉

Photography by Philipp Lutz