japan exposures » Shop News

Hiroshi Watanabe’s Love Point

Kurt — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:47:46 +0000

Hiroshi Watanabe is a photographer who was born and raised in Japan but is now a naturalized American citizen. Love Point is his most recent work, a lovingly printed edition published by Tosei-sha earlier this month, and available for sale now in the Japan Exposures bookstore.

Much of Watanabe’s work in the past has focused on an intersection of the real with artifice, as explored through such photo subjects as Noh masks, Bunraku puppets, and traditional Japanese performing monkeys. Even Watanabe’s book Ideology in Paradise, shot in North Korea, can be seen in a similar way.

Here Watanabe turns his attention to the silicone “love dolls” that seem to have enjoyed a “boom” in popularity over the last few years — or is that boom more of Westerners fascination with yet another entry into the “weird Japan” sweepstakes?

Be that as it may, Love Point is not meant to be about the phenomenona itself but rather is a measured, considered book of portraits of models and dolls (created by the Japanese company 4woods) where it becomes very difficult to tell who is who — or what is who, perhaps I should say. The pictures become an authentic look at the lack of authenticity.

The book includes an original short story by novelist and screenwriter Richard Curtis Hauschild (in English and Japanese translation), as well as afterword by Watanabe (in both English and Japanese).

You can see images from the book at the artist’s website.

Hardcover with dust jacket, 27cm x 26cm, 40 pages, 21 b/w photos.

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Special Order Fujichrome Velvia 50 5×7 Sheet Film

Dirk — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:11:51 +0000

Many people consider the 5×7 inch sheet film format as the ideal balance in large format photography. A film size large enough for contact printing or comfortable unmagnified viewing, a camera not too bulky, and perhaps best of all, a very pleasing aspect ratio of the image suitable for landscape and portrait orientation.

Nonetheless the 5×7 format has always been somewhat neglected in the choice of film formats, especially in colour. Japan Exposures is pleased to be able to take the initiative on commissioning a special order of the legendary king of colour transparency film in 5×7 inch format: Fujifilm Velvia RVP 50 colour reversal film.

Maggi Hambling’s sculpture Scallop to celebrate British composer Benjamin Britten on Aldeburgh beach, Suffolk/England, taken on Fujichrome Velvia 50 in 4×5in format

Current Status

The order window is open and we are taking orders. Order window is scheduled to close on Sunday, March 14th, 2010.

Overview

Since the reintroduction of Velvia 50, the 5×7 product size has been listed as “special order”, and we would like to coordinate and place such an order with Fujifilm Japan. For that to happen we will need to commit to a minimum batch order of 100 boxes of film. As with the ordinarily available Provia 100F, Velvia 100 and Velvia 100F versions, each box contains 20 loose sheets of film.

Pricing

The pricing structure is designed to encourage a higher ordering of units with the aim of reaching the minimum order size quickly. We rely on pricing by Fujifilm Japan. Prices include insured worldwide express shipping to a single destination. Prices and payment are in Japanese yen. There will be no dealer pricing or quantity discounts.

Order Placement

Number of boxes	Price per box	Total price
2 (40 Sheets)	¥19,000	¥38,000
5 (100 Sheets)	¥17,000	¥85,000
10 (200 Sheets)	¥16,000	¥160,000

Prices include insured worldwide express shipping! Included shipping is to a single destination per ordered item. When ordering multiple quantities you are allowed to split quantities to the same number of destinations. Example: you purchase 10 and 5 boxes each and wish to send 8 boxes to destination A and 7 boxes to destination B.

Please use the PayPal buttons to order (Paypal account is not required to make payment). Payments are in Japanese yen (for guidance only, currency conversion rates of your financial institution apply).

Conditions and Order Process

All orders need pre-payment to commit. There will be no reservations of any form except those accompanied with full payment.

We will take orders within an order window which will last until Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at the latest. In case we reach the minimum quantity earlier than that date, or in the event that Japan Exposures decides to close the gap between placed orders and minimum orders, the order window may close before the planned deadline.

One week before the order closure date we will make a go/no-go decision. We will send a notification to everyone with an active order. In case of no-go, all paid orders will be fully refunded.

Please be sure that your spam filters do not prevent any notifications reaching you. This page will also be updated with status accordingly so please check back periodically.

While the order window is open, placed orders can be cancelled free of charge. Once the order window closes, all cancellations will incur a 50% fee.

Once the order window is closed, a firm order will be placed with Fujifilm Japan to manufacture the film. The production will take approximately 2-3 months and we will start shipping to you as soon as we receive the goods. Should there be any delays in the process of manufacturing we will inform you. Such a delay or similar circumstances are not a valid reason to justify a cancellation or reduction in price. Cancellations after closure of the order window will incur a 50% fee without exception.

Upon shipment of your order we will send a notification to you with tracking details. Please be sure that your spam filters do not prevent this notification reaching you.

Once shipped, returns are not accepted under any circumstances.

Thank you

While this is obviously a commercial undertaking, Japan Exposures is taking a substantial financial risk to make this happen for the large format photography community. We kindly ask for your goodwill and cooperation during this initiative. If we are successful we might be able to repeat it, with this or other products.

Contact Us

If you have further questions, please contact us with your request using the form below and we will provide further details.

[contact-form]

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Happy Year End Holidays

Dirk — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:14:47 +0000

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Hopefully you have all finished your holiday shopping, naturally in the Japan Exposures Web and Book stores we hope, and are getting ready for some quiet time around Christmas and New Year. We are well into the year-end season and Japan is abuzz with people celebrating the closing year, including Japan Exposures as we held our one-year anniversary and year end “bonenkai” earlier this month. Here are some photos of the night showing many of our cover artists, some classic and soon to be classic photobooks, and of course our passionate companion, Tokyo Camera Style’s John Sypal:

We would like to wish all readers, friends, contributors and customers of Japan Exposures a happy year end season. Christmas will mostly be over in Japan on the 25th of December with decorations being removed preparing for the real holiday which is Japanese New Year. Like Christmas in the West, the country will come to a stand-still next week while we join with our families for some quiet and festive time together. If you place an order between Christmas and January 4th, please expect that processing might be slightly slower than normal as our suppliers and the post office will be closed.

The JE team wishes everyone happy holidays and all the best for 2010, photographic and otherwise.

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Motif Camera Bag

Dirk — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:02:14 +0000

As seen on Tokyo Camera Style: the Camera Camera Bag!

The camera bag that looks like a camera – perfect for people who celebrate camera culture or simply disorganized photographers with a tendency to forget what is in their bags!

This popular bag is not only an eye-catcher, it is also practical. Several pockets, zippers, a belt loop and inside small media pockets make this a fun bag to carry around your camera or other items.

Comes in several colours and designs, depending on model. It is light so shipping won’t cost the earth. See the full selection here in the Web Shop.

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New limited supply titles in bookstore

Kurt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:10:46 +0000

I‘m sure some will accuse me of stoking the panic fire of “order now or regret later”, but I’m going to use that gambit here because with all four books I’m introducing in this post, we’re talking of items where the stock is very low and basically, once they’re gone, they are gone. Two of them are over 10 years old, one is gone from shops in Japan, and one is a catalog published earlier this year that we have in limited supply.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the Michael Kenna book discussed below pop up on eBay for $150 (it has since come down to something more reasonable), and it made me realize that more people need to know about the fact that we are carrying some of these titles that — even after shipping is factored in — are very reasonably priced. But beyond saving money or grabbing a collectible before the price shoots up, all four below are books well worth having for what we’re hopefully all here for, the photography. I have to confess, our stock on each is one copy less because I had to grab a copy of all four for myself!

Ikko Narahara, Fifteen Thousand Nights

Published in 1994 by Mole, this is a slim, wonderfully printed, 20-page book collecting work done over the course of Ikko Narahara’s career up to then (1958 – 1990), bound together by the fact that all the photos in the book were taken at night. Has a brief afterword by Narahara in English. Published 15 years ago, but these are brand NEW copies that look like they came off the press yesterday.

Michael Kenna, In Hokkaido (Update: Sold Out!)

This new publication produced to coincide with Michael Kenna’s exhibition at the Kushiro Art Museum in Hokkaido brings together 50 photographs of Michael Kenna’s growing body of work produced in Hokkaido over the last 7 years, including several photos taken earlier this year. Afterword by Daido Moriyama (available in English). This was published in August in a print run of 1,200 copies. There may be a 2nd printing later this year, but no confirmation on that. (Communication with this publisher leaves something to be desired, to be honest.)

To be sure, we are not the only place you can get this title, but I dare say you’ll be hard-pressed to find it for cheaper than the approximate $55 we’ve got it for.

Michio Yamauchi, Street Cats (Update: Sold Out!)

This was published as part of the “Mole Unit” series of small, magazine like publications issued by Mole during the 1990s that featured Osamu Kanemura, Mitsugu Onishi, Akihide Tamura among others. This particular issue is No. 8 and was published in 1999. Cats are a well-worn subject for any Japanese photographer from your Lomo enthusiast to Araki, but very few will present them the way that Yamauchi does. Along with Hong Kong (1997), this now represents perhaps the hardest Yamauchi to find for those completists (like myself!) who can never get enough Yamauchi.

Yasuhiro Ishimoto, multi exposure Exhibition Catalogue

This is a beautifully-produced exhibition catalog for an exhibition of Yasuhiro Ishimoto’s multiple exposure work that was held at the Musashino Art University Museum & Library in May-June, 2009. The work is presented in a wonderful accordian style of connected pages (see the photos in the bookstore), and includes a booklet with three essays (in both Japanese and English) on Ishimoto’s work and career. Irrespective of the photography and peoples’ taste in that regard, this Ishimoto catalog will I think appeal to book lovers the most out of the four presented here (with the possible exception of the Kenna). I have a few books done in this accordian style (Masato Seto’s The Living Room and a wonderful facsimile book of Hiroshige prints done by the Metropolitan Museum of Art are two I treasure) and it really is a wonderful way to look at the work, and not nearly as inconvenient as it might seem at first glance. The inclusion of three different essays on Ishimoto’s career in English translation, including a nice overview of his time in Chicago, is icing on the cake.

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Hand-made leather camera case for Panasonic Lumix GF-1

Dirk — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:26:58 +0000

We are pleased to announce an addition of a Panasonic Lumix GF-1 version to our popular range of hand-made leather camera cases. The Lumix GF-1 is Panasonic’s answer to the Olympus E-P1. Unlike the Digital Pen this Lumix has a much more utilitarian feel, making it the perfect everyday camera. A quality camera case will make this plain and elegant looking camera even more presentable and also protect this valuable camera from external knocks while at the same time be smooth in the hands when using it. A detachable back cover protecting the LCD display is available as an option.

These camera cases handmade by an artisan, one by one, in the old center of Tokyo. Their quality and feel are extraordinary; “Perfume of REAL leather, high quality finish and stitching” writes one satisfied customer.

A unique feature of this case is that the strap attaches to the case, not to the camera as with most other cases. This case effectively cradles your GF-1 safely and gently, safeguarding your investment.

Please note we also carry the official Lumix GF-1 cases made by Panasonic here.

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Sayonara 110 – Fujifilm discontinues 110 colour negative film

Dirk — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:16:45 +0000

After 32 years in production Fujifilm has discontinued production of the Fujicolor 110 format (aka “pocket”) colour negative film. 110 is a cartridge-based film format used in still photography. It was introduced by Kodak in 1972. 110 is a miniaturised version of Kodak’s earlier 126 film format. The image is 13×17 millimeters, with one registration hole. (Wikipedia)

The last batch has been produced in September 2009 so it will be only available while stocks last.

We are trying to maintain stocks of this film as much as we can (available in 12 and 24 exposure versions in the web shop), but of course there are limits to what is available to us. All film has expiry dates well into 2011 so now would be a good time to stockpile it if you like this film stock and format.

For samples please visit this Flickr group.

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Rayqual releases Olympus OM, Leica R and Pentax K to Micro 4/3 lens adapters

Dirk — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:53:51 +0000

As previously announced Rayqual has released the three more adapters for the Micro-Four-Thirds system (such as Panasonic Lumix G1, Lumix GH1, Olympus E-P1 and the forthcoming Panasonic Lumix GF1).

As always these high quality MADE IN JAPAN adapters are made to high quality standards and allow photographers and cinematographers to reliably and precisely mount their Leica R, Olympus OM and Pentax K lenses on modern digital bodies.

This complements the previously released adapters for Leica M, Canon FD, Contax/Yashica and Nikon F lenses.

Unlike products by other manufacturers Rayqual adapters have not suffered from any quality issues and/or recalls by their manufacturers. The general feedback and customer satisfaction is extremely high.

The web shop and book store have now returned from their respective holidays. Many thanks to the customers who had to wait a little longer than usual for their orders. We are keen and full of energy to add more interesting content to the main site and exciting products to the net shops. Watch this space!

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Moriyama’s Northern already going OOP

Kurt — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:54:29 +0000

It seems like the other day we were announcing a new Daido Moriyama title in this space, his great Northern, and already we have heard that this book is going out of print. The publisher or Moriyama (or a combination of both, perhaps) have decided not to go to a second printing, and what is out there on store shelves now is all there will be. Needless to say, we have a few of those copies ourselves, so order now or be prepared to pay substantially more in the future. I should also add that, although we have not advertised it as such, the copies we have been selling so far have been signed by the artist. (Please note: We will do our best to obtain signed copies of Northern for orders placed in the next couple of weeks, but we CANNOT guarantee it.)

Northern was one of the books we recently featured in a video review, which should provide you with a taste of this book that is well worth owning.

UPDATE (September 16, 2009): Signed copies are now completely sold out and we will not be able to get any more. Non-signed copies are still available for a limited time.

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Web Shop on summer holidays

Dirk — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:22:38 +0000

The Japan Exposures Book Shop has returned from its break and things are back to normal. Now it will be the general Web Shop’s turn to take a holiday, which will be from August 10th until September 10th. However, there is a good chance that you won’t notice much of it as we will continue operations almost as normal.

Everything will run as normal except the following, which will resume September 10th:

MS Optical lens conversions including Converted Contax G lens for Leica M Packages
Sales of JE Exotica
Japan Exposures Equipment Sourcing and Camera Spare Part Services

Sales of virtually all other items like films and accessories will continue as normal — which of course includes books –, so don’t restrict yourself.

In other news, Camera Hirano has informed us of a slight price increase of their hand-made leather camera cases. Effective from 1st September 2009, the price of all cases will be increased by ¥2.000. Quality does never come cheap and this is no exception. Similar to many other products in our selection, we are very happy being able to offer these precious items for sale at all. Life’s too short to compromise on quality.

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