Night photographs in Tokyo and Osaka

Cities in Japan earn their reputation after dark, and they punish anyone who treats a pavement like a studio. The signs are bright. The pavements are narrow. The photograph you want is real. So is the person trying to walk home behind you.

Start earlier than you think. Blue hour, the few minutes after sunset when the sky is still colour and the signs have come on, is kinder to a phone than full night. In Tokyo that might mean Shibuya while you can still see faces. In Osaka it might mean the canal at Dotonbori before the bridge becomes a knot of people. You can stay later. The first good frames are usually the early ones.

Where to stand, and where not to

At Shibuya, shoot from the edge of the crossing or from an upper window if a building lets the public in. The scramble itself is a road. Stopping in it for a horizon shot is how bags get kicked and how you miss the light. Shinjuku has the bigger spread of towers. The east side around the station is plenty. Kabukicho is intense neon and not a comfortable wander for every group. Omoide Yokocho, the alley of small bars, is a photograph from the entrance. It is not a place to block with a backpack and a lit screen.

Tokyo Tower and the Skytree both work better from a distance than from the queue at their feet. Pick a side street, a bridge, or a hotel window you have already paid for. In Osaka, the Glico sign and the canal are the frame everyone knows. Take it, then step off Ebisu Bridge so the next person can. After rain the reflections do the decorating for you. You do not need a filter that makes the orange more orange.

Save

• Lean on something steady and let night mode do the job. Flash washes the scene and blinds people.
• Do not climb a railing for a cleaner angle. The cleaner angle is not worth a canal.
• Zip the phone away between shots. Crowded night streets are where phones leave pockets.
• A small umbrella in the frame is fine. A umbrella poked into a stranger’s ear is not.

End the walk on a train you can still catch

Look up the last train back to the hotel before you leave the room. On a lot of city lines that is around midnight, and on some private railways it is earlier. Miss it and you are in a taxi queue that does not care about your blue hour. If the hotel is across the city, give yourself a buffer. A good night of photographs includes the part where you are on the right platform, looking at the pictures you already took.

Eat before you are hungry and cranky. A counter in Shinjuku or a standing snack near Dotonbori is enough. You are not required to turn the photo walk into a restaurant hunt. The city is already doing the visual work. Your job is to notice it, keep the path clear, and get home.