Photographic policies in Japan

[LucaZone]

Hi,

 

Are there any rules on photograph at stations in Japan? I'm preparing to head out to capture some reference for modelling a Shinkansen line and am interested in surveying trains and stations.

 

Is it pretty liberal or heavily policed like in the UK?

[angusmclean]

Was there a couple of years ago and took many photographs and videos on many station platforms and stations and inside trains without any bother.  Just have a little understanding that the people of Japan, like anywhere in the world, don't enjoy a camera looking directly at them, and probably, particularly by a foreigner.  Street, scenic, and shop photography anywhere was ignored by all, but then you are a 'gaijin' touristy type anyway if you are european, therefore tolerated. :)

 

Angus

[bill937ca]

Tripods can be a big issue on platforms.  Usually they are only tolerated at the end of platforms and this is primarily an issue of passenger volume.

 

When trains are retired you will find Japanese there by the hundreds maybe thousands.  If you come across any retirements during your stay (which is possible at this time of year) its better to photograph them in the weeks prior to the actual date rather than deal with the camera phone hoarding crowds on the actual date.

[westfalen]

I've never had any trouble during all my trips to Japan, I don't have a tripod and generally keep out of the way, and stay off railway property when lineside. As an example my two companions and I spent hours hanging around on the Shinkansen and 3'6" platforms at Toyohashi last December taking photos and video of practically every train that passed through and were left alone the whole time.

 

Having said that I've also had a hassle free two weeks of hard core railfanning in the UK on station platforms and lineside, the only problem I've had there was on a previous one day visit from Lille in France when an over zealous security guard at Victoria Station said I couldn't take photos in the station concourse.

[bikkuri bahn]

Advice as above, stay behind the white lines/yellow treads.  Respect the privacy of passengers and railway employees- no head on shots.  Apparently wearing red is not advised if you intend to hang out on platform ends, as drivers tend to be sensitive to the color, for obvious reasons.  When sharing a location with a fellow railfan photographer, it's good manners to ask if your position doesn't intrude on their shot, if they were there first- the older veteran photographers are generally very accomodating.

[tsubasa119]

I agree with what everyone has said, never had any issues as long as you keep out of the way, and agree with bikuri bahn about other photographers, i find that they are always up for a conversation, they first start talking in English and I usually surprise them by answering them in Japanese, the look on their faces is priceless!

[westfalen]

A good point about not wearing red, it comes as second nature to me because my first day working for the railways, 34 years ago today in fact, almost the first thing the station master said to me was never to wear red or green to work.

[bronzeonion]

I wouldn't say it is heavily policed in the UK. The problem is rail staff not knowing the rules and what happens alot now is the member of staff calls the police if the photographer doesn't comply to what he/she is saying but the photgrapher gets told to carry on as they are not doing anything wrong and the member of staff told about the rules!

 

I have never had any problems in Japan with photography/videography. I am amazed at how many videos on Youtube show full journeys from the drivers eye view perspective, I always get really self concious on the times I do this in Japan as I don't know what the driver is thinking at the time or whether it is annoying him/her. I suppose they must be used to that as there are so many videos it must happen often. Once I was standing behind the glass looking out of the front as we were going along on the Chuo/Sobu line local lines on a Metro train and once we had reached Nakano where it goes underground the driver bowed in apology from in the cab as he went to lower the blinds for tunnel driving.

[Eisenbahn]

Hi LucaZone,

 

Where were you thinking of going to photograph Shinkansen Stations?

 

Last year I used a JR East Kanto Area 3 day pass  to photograph Shinkansen Stations in the Kanto region. There is a nice mix of Architecture of  Shinkansen station types there and all in easy reach of Tokyo.( See JR Kanto Pass map for details of names of stations.)  Some stations are away from everything and others in heavily built up areas. Takasaki & Omiya stations were useful to photograph different Shinkansen train types.

 

A few of my Shinkansen Station photos are posted in the Forum Gallery. I was mainly interested in car, bus , bicycle, people interfaces with the station and people flows inside the stations.

 

Rail photography is a popular pastime in Japan, you wont have any difficulty there.

 

cheers......Eisenbahn

[LucaZone]

Hiya

 

Thanks so much for the responses. This all sounds really great stuff.

 

Here us the kind of thing I'm thinking about:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transrail/sets/72157627021700505/

Pretty extensive, so would probably want to be a quiet station or out of any rush hour.

 

Similar for stations as well. I plan on looking to contact JR Central and East in advance to seek out permission. I'm primarily interested in the Tokaido shinkansen line south from Tokyo.

 

Regards

[Eisenbahn]

Hamamatsu is a popular station for photography on the Tokaido Shinkansen line.

 

I suppose you can find  Shinkansen stations you would like to photograph with Google image and Youtube before coming to Japan.

 

For myself, I like  the Takasaki/Honjo-Waseda/Kumagaya/Omiya section of track in JR East because of the different station designs and the variety of Shinkansen that go through. But each to their own. 

 

I suppose you know about www.hyperdia.com to find out which trains go through when.

[bikkuri bahn]

LucaZone, there is no need to ask for permission to photograph within the confines of a shinkansen station. All you need to do is buy a platform ticket. Just follow the rules mentioned above which apply to all railway lines/stations.

[westfalen]

Depending on how far out of Tokyo you can get Toyohashi station is a good location. You have the Shinkansen, 'classic' JR with plenty of freight, Meitetsu, and for good measure trams outside the main station entrance.

[Dani]

I don't know if there are specific rules, but it's always disgusting to feel a camera directly on you. I never had problems taking photos in stations or platforms, I suppose people realized I was taking shots of trains, not people and I was a "gaijin".

 

But if you are interested in persons or person scenes, better use your zoom and be discreet for politeness.

 

Cheers,

Dani.