Skye Hohmann Photography and Writing

Ameyokocho is a popular market street in Tokyo, near Ueno Station. It is famous for seafood products, though the proper name (Ameya-yokocho) may derive from traditional candy shops in the area. It is a fascinating place for street photography.

At the base of the Hida Mountains (the North Japan Alps) Azumino is a beautiful part of Nagano Prefecture. The area is famous for its mountain views and the Daiso Wasabi Farm.

Tucked in among Nagano Prefecture's mountains, Bessho Onsen is a hot springs town famous for its Kamakura Period Temples. Anraku-ji features an octagonal pavilion which is especially beautiful in the snow.

Kyoto's Heian Shrine -- essentially a replica of the Heian period Imperial Palace -- offers beautiful Japanese vermilion painted architecture and a peaceful retreat of a garden. Both are wonderful places to visit with a camera.

Nestled in the remote hills of Gunma Prefecture, Chojukan Ryokan tapps the hot springs water of Houshi Onsen, and is a beautiful retreat from hectic daily life.

The rugged and wild Kii Peninsula -- where Nara and Wakayama Prefectures meet -- has wild rivers, steep forested mountains, and the temples that mark the old Kumano Road, or Kumano Kodo.

The Kiso Mountains, otherwise known as the Central Japan Alps, span Nagano and Gifu Prefectures, and contain the beautiful Mount Kisokoma, which reaches 2,956 m, and is beautiful in all seasons.

Tucked below the beautiful Central Japan Alps, Komagane is home to Kozenji Temple. In spring wild azaleas bloom purple in the low mountain forests.

Kyoto, Japan's old capital, is still where tourists go to see the "real Japan". Full of temples, gardens, shrines and traditional shops, as well as traffic, gleaming skyscrapers, and shopping malls, Kyoto is a mesmerizing city to photograph. I have travelled there many times, and each time I realize how much more there is to discover.

One of Nagano Prefecture's principal cities, Matsumoto is known for its striking castle and its location near the North Japan Alps, or Hida Mountains.

High in the Hida Mountains, or North Japan Alps, Mount Norikura is thickly coated with snow in the winter months, and covered with alpine wildflowers in the summer.

Land-locked and mountainous, Nagano Prefecture was once remote but now is a destination for skiers and hikers, and is full of superb natural beauty.

Japan's capital before Kyoto, Nara is home to temples, shrines, and free-roaming deer which wander the streets and parks.

Jutting off the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture into the Sea of Japan, the Noto Peninsula is rural and remote, and known for its fishing industry and steeply terraced rice paddies.

Kagawa Prefecture is one of Shikoku's four quarters, and is famous throughout Japan for udon noodles (Sanuki Udon, which keep the province's old name), for its share of the temples that make the 88 temple pilgrimage route around the island, and its scenery along the Seto Inland Sea coast, which is rugged and beautiful.

Nearly in the centre of Japan, Suwa surrounds the eponymous lake. Known for its hot springs, fireworks, and the Suwa Shrines which host the famous Onbashira Festival, Suwa is the place I called home for most of my years in Japan.

Once a main highway from Japan's old capital to the new, the post towns along this mountainous route are well preserved with traditional buildings standing much as they would have when processions of feudal lords made their way to the Shogun's domain in Edo.

Tokyo - Japan's most famous metropolis - is home to futuristic skyscrapers, technology, and bright lights, but it also houses traditional culture, tranquil parks, and ordinary, every-day life.

Yatsugatake is written in Japanese as "Eight Peaks" and is a range of mountains crossing from Yamanashi to Nagano Prefectures. While I've hiked parts of the range several times, in the summer of 2009 I hiked from the south to the north of the range, passing over the (something more than) eight peaks. It was a stunning and challenging trek.

Below the snowy heights of Shiga Kogen, hot waters bubble to the surface in the town of Yamanouchi, creating the hot springs of Shibu Onsen and those beloved of Japan's bathing snow monkeys at the Jigokudani Monkey Park.