An arresting image of a man dressed as a superhero parking his bicycle was on Thursday named winner of the Prince Takamado Memorial Prize for the Japan Through Diplomats¡¯ Eyes 2014 photography contest.
Roman Malyshev, an attache at the Russian Embassy, won for his snapshot of a quirky scene from Japanese life.
¡°I was out for a walk when this man in a ¡®Power Rangers¡¯ outfit suddenly appeared in front of me,¡± Malyshev said in fluent Japanese as he accepted the award at a ceremony at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo.
¡°It means that the best photos are taken often by chance. I submitted 10 photos to the contest, including those of ¡®matsuri¡¯ (festivals) and temples, but to my surprise, this photo won.¡±
Princess Hisako, who was present at Thursday¡¯s ceremony, commented that the photo ¡°not only made me laugh, it also got me thinking . . . The diplomat who took the photograph was not only surprised by the man in his masked rider outfit parking a bicycle, but by the fact that none of the passers-by seems surprised to see him.¡±
The contest¡¯s Grand Prize went to Momoe Fritz, wife of the Micronesia¡¯s ambassador to Tokyo, for her photograph of ¡°maneki-neko¡± (good fortune cats) amid rays of light on the grounds of Gotokuji Temple in Tokyo.
¡°I happened to take the photo at the right time of the day, when light was pouring in at just the right angle,¡± said Fritz. She added that she didn¡¯t use any high-tech equipment, but just snapped the photo with her iPad Air.
The organizers of the contest, sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, foreign embassies and the Photographic Society of Japan, solicited photos under the theme ¡°Cool Japan.¡± A total of 67 diplomats from 37 countries submitted works depicting various aspects of Japanese life as seen through their eyes. Matsuri, fireworks, and cherry blossoms were popular themes.
The competition first took place in October 1998. Since the number of entries has grown, the organizers this year created a new prize, the Jury Special Mention Prize.
The prizewinners were: ¡°Blond Geisha¡± by Finnish Ambassador Manu Virtamo; ¡°Cute¡± by Shifa Haddad, the wife of the Jordanian ambassador; ¡°Flying Generations¡± by Uzbekistan Ambassador Farrukh Islomdjonovich Tursunov; and ¡°Cool Work¡± by Polina Zhestkaya, a daughter of an envoy at the Russian Embassy.
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