Trip & Workshop with Andrea Modica
This year, we are inviting Andrea Modica to join us for our photography excursion in the countryside of Japan. Throughout the trip, Andrea will lead critiques and informal teaching sessions. Through interactions and conversations with Andrea, participants will be able to gain insight into their own photography.
The 13-day trip through this modern yet traditional country will be led by Tsuyoshi Ito, program director of Project Basho and a Japanese native. The trip will start in the middle of Tokyo, and will cover three main destinations within the Ishikawa Prefecture — the City of Kanazawa, Wajima, and Suzu. Travelers will experience Japan's coastal landscape, a local harvest festival, and small fishing villages along the Japan Sea.
While the tour will move from one location to another as a group, there will be plenty of time to explore each location on your own. Throughout the trip, there will be many attractions and points of interest for your photographic curiosity like the coastal landscape, traditional architecture, temples and shrines, street scenes, fishing towns, and a local festival.
Various activities to connect with people in the local community for cultural exchange will also be organized such as meeting a local photography group to share images and exchange feedback. These elements will make this trip truly unique.
Location
The tour will begin in Asakusa, Tokyo, the center of popular culture since the Edo period. After spending a day exploring the Asakusa area and visiting the Tsukiji Fish Market, the group will take a sleeper car to Kanazawa on the very train made famous in a murder mystery novel by Kyotaro Nishimura, a popular Japanese writer.
In Kanazawa, a relatively small city where everything is located within walking distance or accessible by public transportation, the group will spend two full days visiting clusters of temples, museums, busy markets, and Kenroku-en, one of the three famous gardens in Japan. The groups will stay in a modern hotel in the middle of the city conveniently located to major attractions such as Kenroku Garden, Kanazawa Castle Park, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
From Kanazawa, the tour will travel by bus to Oku-Noto, a remote part of the Noto Peninsula, and will visit two smaller fishing towns, Wajima and Suzu.
Wajima which is famous for the production of lacquerware will be the first stop. After visiting a morning market, a local sake producer, and a laquerware production facility, there will be a coastal drive to the outskirts of Wajima visiting a Zen Temple and quiet fishing ports along the Japan Sea. In Wajima, the tour will stay in a Japanese-style hotel with tatami mats and a hot spring bath that overlooks the Japan Sea.
From Wajima, the group will continue on to Suzu at the end of the Peninsula. In Suzu, there will be a two day local festival in the neighborhood of Takojima. The festival includes a traditional procession of people carrying lavishly decorated tall lanterns accompanied by flutes and drumming. The two day festival will culminate in a traditional comedy play performed in a local shrine late in the evening. The group will stay in an intimate family-run B&B for three nights in the center of everything.
Itinerary
- September 1
- Arrive Narita Airport
- Meet in Asakusa
- Dinner in Asakusa
- September 2
- Sightsee in Tsukiji & Asakusa
- Leave for Kanazawa with a sleeper train
- September 3 - 5
- Explore & photograph in Kanazawa
- Dinner in Kanazawa
- September 6
- Leave for Wajima by bus
- Explore & photograph Wajima
- Dinner in Wajima
- September 7 - 8
- Explore & photograph Wajima including a drive along the coast and visits to small fishing towns and a Zen temple.
- Dinner in Wajima
- September 9
- Leave for Suzu
- Explore & photograph in Suzu
- Dinner in Suzu
- September 10 - 11
- Photograph local festival in Takojima
- Dinner in Suzu
- September 12
- Return to Kanazawa
- Explore & photograph in Kanazawa
- Leave for Tokyo by sleeper train
- September 13
- Arrive in Ueno
- Tour will end upon the return to Tokyo
- Participants can take the afternoon flight to go back or have the option to stay longer in Tokyo. Please contact us for more details.
Andrea Modica
As one of contemporary photography’s most important images-makers, Andrea Modica has earned national and international recognition and critical acclaim through her five monographs including “Treadwell” and “Minor League.” Her photographs have been exhibited across the country and are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Currently a professor at Drexel University, Andrea also teaches at International Center of Photography, Woodstock Photography Workshops, and Santa Fe Workshops.
