Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Omiyage

Society in Japan revolves around omiyage, or souvenirs, or so it seems. The economy certainly does, or did, until an avalanche of food scandals rocketed the market recently. You cannot return from the tiniest trip, business or pleasure, without bringing back omiyage for your co-workers, friends, neighbours and family. The most desirable omiyage is some local produce of food. One big drawback of this practice is that quite often the many identical omiyage shops take over a beautiful location leaving only a tourist trap. Buying the T-shirt is more important than having actually seen the location. Miyajima and Matsushima are excellent examples of this.

Camera: Pentax *ist DS, lens: 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC MACRO