I had always wanted to visit Japan and finally got the chance to go there in 2016. The culture, food, traditions and colours are so very different to the West.

Japanese Paper Lanterns are a traditional sight that can still be seen all over the country. I spotted these in a small side alley in the city of Kyoto. Kyoto is a very traditional city by Japanese standards with many old areas that have not changed much in decades managing to bypass the onset of modernity seen almost everywhere else in the densely populated areas of the country.

Traditional paper lanterns were made in the image of myths, things from nature and or in the spirit of local culture.

The Japanese word chōchin is used for these traditional lanterns which have a frame of split bamboo covered with paper, which can collapse flat into itself, and are usually designed to hang from a hook or a pole.