Thach Long is a young journalist, born in 1983, currently working in Japan. During more than three years living in the land of the rising sun, the nature, people and lifestyle here have been the inspiration for many of his impressive photo collections.
With over 5,000 followers on his personal page, Thach Long's photography works always receive much love from the online community. Below are his latest notes and shares: a Hanoian talks about the sunset of Japan.
Author Thach Long
I have been a fan of sunsets for a long time, but not Hanoi sunsets. Simply because Hanoi sunsets fall at the most terrifying moment for the people of the capital: rush hour.
So no matter how splendid the Hanoi sunset is, it cannot soothe the anger of being robbed, cut off, or stabbed; it cannot dispel the shame when you - with a keyboard in hand - try to criticize "how can motorbikes move when cars are lined up in 5 rows", and then realize you are in lane number 4.
But Japanese sunset is for me a very emotional moment of the day. Really emotional.
Normally, I finish work before the sun turns golden. However, since I worked from morning to noon, I had to go get something to eat right after work. After eating, I picked my teeth, rinsed my mouth with the magical 7-11 latte (the thing I miss most about Japan right now), and it was just in time for the sunset.
By then, my work was done and my stomach was less hungry, so I was in a good mood. On average, out of 10 sunsets in Japan, three times I brought my camera, the other seven times I simply found a place to sit and watch the people hurrying by.
I find that Japanese people smile more at dusk. This is not a metaphor, it is just my observation. In the morning, when they go to work, they seem rushed and irritable. I once witnessed a man in a suit yelling at a 7-11 employee at 9am, because she (a Chinese woman) kept taking the wrong brand of cigarettes that the man wanted to buy. In the afternoon, they seem more leisurely, walking in groups and chatting animatedly.
In terms of beauty, sunsets in Japan are a little different from those in Vietnam. Japanese sunsets are often bright red, without clouds. Meanwhile, Hanoi sunsets are often more colorful and splendid because of the clouds covering the sun. Thanks to that, Hanoi sunsets often have rays of sunlight. I once took a photo of a very large sunset ray in Hanoi. Japan is very rare.
In Japan, there are usually only two states: with sunset or without. Meanwhile, Hanoi (as I observed) has three states. One is clear sky, with a bright red sunset. Two is cloudy sky, with no sunset. The third state is “polluted sunset” - the sky is full of smoke and fine dust but not yet cloudy, we can still see the red sun, but its light is very weak, in the halo created by the sun there is something dim and cloudy.
Japan is very aware of its people's need to watch the sunset, so almost every city will have a few spots that are named "sunset viewing spots". In Japan, there is a ranking of the most beautiful sunset viewing spots. And in
In Hanoi, anyone who wants to watch the sunset has to go based on personal experience, there is no official location. The Japanese, on the other hand, are very aware of their need to watch the sunset, so almost every city will have a few places that are named by the people as "sunset viewing places". In fact, in the land of the rising sun, there is a ranking of the most beautiful sunset viewing spots.
