This is Yuri ‘Yurippa’ Suganuma’s featured article series in which she takes us on her adventures to cultivate new hobbies.

Yurippa has been interested in photography for some time now, but she’s been unsure which camera she should buy. So, she decided to head to some used camera stores,  Lucky Camera Shop andChuko Camera Box in Shinjuku to find the perfect camera that best suits her. Was she able to find the right one...? Let’s find out!

The first place Yurippa stopped by was Lucky Camera Shop. It’s located next to Isetan Shinjuku and has a kind of foreign, non-Japanese air to it. When Yurippa saw the eye-catching red exterior of the shop, it was loved at first sight. In any case, time to head in!

The store is lined with cameras made in lots of different countries including Japan, Germany and the US. Lucky Camera Shop puts a lot of effort into stocking foreign-made cameras and mechanical cameras with everything built in. They have a varied line-up, including famous Leica cameras.

The Leica parts were all expensive – the bodies and lenses were both over ¥100,000 ($915)!

Yurippa was shown a camera she was interested in from inside the showcase. The left was a single-lens reflex Olympus OM-1 and the right was a Barnack Leica. 35mm films are all the rage right now, and these were some of the first models to use them. Both are at a nice, compact size.

Yurippa was blown away looking through the viewfinder of the Olympus OM-1. ‘You can see things easily, so much so that everything looks even more beautiful through the viewfinder!’ she said.

Next, Yurippa also tried the Barnack Leica. It’s a valuable camera that has you feeling a little nervous touching it. She said surprised at how quiet the shutter was, to which the shop assistant explained, “This is a different single-lens reflex to that of the OM-1. There’s no mirror inside so the shutter is quiet.” Yurippa learned much about how cameras are put together differently, as well as the diverse number of types available.

The next shop Yurippa headed to was Chuko Camera Box. It’s a used camera store located along Shinjuku Electric Street (Shinjuku Denki-gai). The showcase is crowded with cameras, and the shop has an atmosphere to it like a secret hideout.

“It’d be great to have a camera that’s small and easy to use. One that I can take out and snap a photo with straight away. That’d definitely be fun!” said Yurippa while looking in earnest for a camera.

She continued to search with these keywords in mind, focusing on auto-focus film compact cameras. And then, she found it. In her hands was the Genba Kantoku from Konica. You can snap a photo just by pressing the shutter. It has auto-focus, flash and auto-load. “It’s a little big, but it’s affordable and seems easy to use!”

Chuko Camera Box is famous for its friendly store clerk and regular customers. Yurippa learned that the Genba Kantoku was formerly used for recording at construction sites. It’s durable and can get wet or be dropped and has an excellent lens. She’s finally made her purchase!

Yurippa loaded her Genba Kantoku right away with 35mm film. Simply take out the film tip and close it on its back. Film cameras can seem tricky, but there are easy-to-use ones like this too!

Yurippa was hugely satisfied finally getting her hands on her long-sought film camera. In the second part of this article, she will develop and print the photos that she has taken with her Genba Kantoku at a photo shop.

How about getting yourself your own film camera and to start up photography yourself?

“A world of cute photos in one shop” – this is the main concept of “moreru mignon”; a shop where you can enjoy good quality services such as the photo sticker printing machine. A moreru mignon has just opened on the 7^th floor of SHIBUYA 109!

Sweets artist KUNIKA produced the interior design of the shop. Just some of the main focuses of the store include the enormous cake sofa, the large dome canopy, the cute sweets bathroom, and much more! This peculiar world of sweets portrays “a country of confectionary”.

Moreru mignon’s opening commemoration campaign was launched on Saturday 9^th September and is still ongoing! Now you can get your hands on some photogenic lollipop candy or ANNA SUI makeup product samples (foundation and puff set).

Let’s take a walk around moreru mignon ♡

＜Chocolate makeup space＞

You can even borrow hair straighteners here!

＜Sweets bathroom＞

Get in the tub and take a picture!

＜Sweets Photo Studio＞

Enter the space of the magic mirror, which produces a scenery that repeats over and over again with a fantastical effect just like a kaleidoscope.

＜Donuts area＞

Minty green donuts all around!
Sit on one or peak through the hole – there are so many poses you can make for the perfect picture!

▼ A comment from KUNIKA

A dreamy wonderland of sweets – I wanted to make it a reality! This world is packed to the brim, including a large castle cake sofa, a chocolate makeup room, large donuts and parfait, and so much more! From the floor to the ceiling, the room is filled with colour. This is a world that nobody has ever seen before. Let go of reality and enter a new dimension.

Spin around 360 degrees - everywhere you look is a perfect spot to take a photo! My top recommendation is the large cake sofa because of its large impact. Please take a seat and take a picture! In addition, there are so many mirrors everywhere – from the walls to the ceiling. Taking a picture of a reflection makes for a very interesting experience! From one photo point, there are an endless number of ways to take a picture. I want everyone to experiment with a range of angles and make their own unique photos!

A picture of this place would make for an amazing Facebook, Twitter or Instagram post! Make sure yous nap some purikura photos and commemorate!

The Harajuku city where fashionable people come from all over the world is known as the source of fashion in Tokyo. It is the best spot for visiting that you can enjoy shopping around this area, and visit the famous sightseeing spot called Meiji-Jingu which is close to Harajuku train station.

Since this town is known as a source of fashion, there are many kinds of “Kawaii” photo taking spots. If you have chance to visit Harajuku, you should visit following 7 places and take pictures.

1 Entrance of Takeshita Street

After you go through the Takeshita gate in Harajuku station, you can get to the entrance of Takeshita Street. When you look up the gate of the entrance, you can see the LED screen sign said “TAKESHITA STREET” decorated with cute balloons. These balloons changes depending on the season, and this LED screen sometimes shows videos of people walking on this street. You definitely want to take a picture of this entrance to commemorate this occasion.

If you walk about 360 meters, there are a lot of cheap cloth stores for teenagers. Other than that, there are the stores that you can take purikura (photo booth that prints out cards and stickers of the resulting photographs), colorful cotton candy store, shopping malls such as ALTA and CUTECUBE. This street is filled with the all kinds of Harajuku pop cultures.

2 CUTECUBE

If you walk about 5 minutes from the entrance of Takeshita Street, you can get to the commercial facility called “CUTECUBE.” There are fashion store called “SPINNS” which is very popular among young kids in Japan and cafés that is collaborated with some popular cartoon characters inside this facility. The thing that is standing in the central of this facility is the monument of Sebastian Masuda. This object which piles up colorful blocks and cubes is very outstanding and unique. There is also similar octopus object that has a lot of colorful blocks on the third floor.

3 MOSHI MOSHI BOX Harajuku Tourist information center

When you go through the Takeshita Street and cross the Meiji Street, you can see the vivid blue building in front of you. This is Harajuku tourist information center as known as MOSHI MOSHI BOX. Other than giving information for tourist, there are an exchange counter, free karaoke machines, the stores that sells Japanese souvenir stuff. The building itself is good for taking pictures with, but the art work called “Colorful Rebellion -WORLD TIME CLOCK-” which was made by Sebastian Masuda standing outside of this building is also good photo taking spot. This world clock which decorated with colorful toys and ribbons are representing Japanese Kawaii cultures to the world.

4 MOSHI MOSHI KIMONO Salons

At the “MOSHI MOSHI Kimono salon” on the second floor of MOSHI MOSHI BOX building, you can not only experience wearing kimono, but also you can go out with wearing kimono. There are Harajuku style unique kimonos which have laces and frills, and they have Japanese traditional kimonos too.

If you are interested in Japanese Kawaii cultures, you should visit this MOSHI MOSHI kimono salon and find your favorite styles of kimono coordinate.

5 KAWAII MONSTER Café

You go straight after you left the MOSHI MOSHI BOX, there is building called “YM Square.” The new café called “KAWAII MONSTER Café” on the fourth floor of this building is much talked about.

When the elevator’s door opens, it looks like you are in theme park. The waitress wearing cute and fashionable dress welcomes you, and after you go inside, you can see each pieces of furniture’s that are decorated with cute stuffs. There is merry-go-round in the center of this café, and you can take pictures with that. This café makes you feel like you are in the world of picture books.

Don’t miss the worth photo takings foods that they change every month.

6 Harajuku

When you go opposite way after leaving KAWAII MONSTER Café, there you can see the monument says “Harajuku” in Chinese characters. This is putting up in front of cloths store called “GALLARIE.” It is good for showing people that you came to Harajuku. This popular store among young people has clothes that have been selected from outside of the country.

7 Illuminations in Omotesando

When you go straight with the GALLARIE to your back, you could see the Zelkova tree-lined in the street. They put up light-ups in every winter on this street.

This place is one of the most popular illumination spot that attaches about fifty millions LED light bulb on these trees.

The light-up starts Thursday December 1^st to ends December 25^th from sunset to 10:00PM. The light-up on the bushes ends on Wednesday January 4^th.

Even though Harajuku is known as the place for young people, there are a lot of place that older people can enjoy visiting. Harajuku is a good place that you can enjoy in any occasion such as traveling with your family, dating, or shopping with your friends.

■Related article：7 city illuminations to visit in Japan this Christmas