Public photos?

I will soon in rural Japan. I will spend a month in Tokyo first sightseeing.

How do people in both rural and urban Japan respond to candid photos?

I like to take photos of my travel. Sometimes I take photos of buildings. Sometimes I take photos of strangers. Online I see the photos of strangers called documentary photography. These photographers take photos of people doing daily things: person as grocery store, walking on street, at fish mart, etc.

I understand most people would not like this, they do not want random strangers with big cameras taking their photo. They do not know what the camera man will do with the photos!

When I was in America it seemed people did not really mind. They saw me with my camera, but just brushed it off and acted normal. When I was sightseeing in Paris, it was 50/50. Some people did not care, some would say very rude things - I completely understand! If I am taking photo of single person and in certain situations I ask permission, but if there is more than one I usually just take the photo. Yes, yes. Some call this disrespectful, I know and I agree to some what. But I enjoy taking candid photos.

Is it best to ask permission in Japan? I assume yes.

I think it is better to ask permission if you can.

Naturally if you are on the street photographing busy salarymen running for the train, you should not stop them and ask for permission, because they would be more annoyed about the lost time compared to the taking of photos.

From a photographers point of view, sometimes you can't ask for permission before taking the picture, because the expression of the target is no longer natural. In that case you should tell about the photo after, and ask politely if it was OK. If not, delete the picture from your camera.

Also be careful about what you do with the photos. There are some rules about showing identifiable persons in public mediums, like the internet.

Yes, especially now that we're in the internet era, the Japanese are very picky about "private information" and a lot of them do not feel comfortable about being taken photos without permission.

So this is what I do. I'm a local Japanese, if that makes a difference.

A) Ask permission, especially when focusing on shooting people.
B) When focusing on scenery where there are also people, hold up the camera for a while before pressing the shutter, so that people would have a chance to walk away if they don't want their photos taken.
C) Don't keep shooting the same people again and again unless they are obviously smiling at your camera. Surely, they might not move away even if they're not smiling, but they still have a right to stay without having their photos taken.

"B) When focusing on scenery where there are also people, hold up the camera for a while before pressing the shutter, so that people would have a chance to walk away if they don't want their photos taken."

This is exactly what I do with street/tourist spot pics. It's great advice.

Uco, great advice! I appreciate it! When shooting scenery or even a large group of people, I will do this from now on. Then if people still are in my photo, I will alert them and ask permission to keep it. Thank you so much! I feel more comfortable now.

Depending how countryside you are, you may find that nearly everyone in the town knows you or that everything you do gets back to the school (trust me, this happens) so you may want to limit the amount of documentary style photos you take without prior permission in your own town.

Also many places of work have rules about taking and posting pictures of your students (if you're a teacher) so that might limit your hobby too if you choose to follow the rule.

If I am in a rural area and everyone knows everyone I will probably not be taking photos of people. I figured there was a rule set in place for teachers to post photos of students, but judging my how many I see posted on Facebook, blogs, Instagram, etc I am guessing not too many listen to it. I will just because I do not want to jeopardize my position.

Nice to read how people handle the situation of taking pictures in the public domain.
Does anybody know what the Japanese law sais about this?
For example. Taking a picture on the street of a person or persons and use it for your own album like a dressed up girl in Akihabara. So no commercial use or 'publishing' it on the interent)
B. Slager