First, a photographer, Hikaru Nagatake, talked about photography, introducing Junior Photographers’ works of the previous year to the children, and Canon project staff gave brief instructions on how to use digital cameras. The participants, including children of lower grades, listened attentively to the explanation.

After the lecture, the children drank plenty of water at school before they went to Shinjuku Gyoen, which is a five-minute walk from the school. The paved street they walked along was scorching hot because of the reflected heat of the sun. In Shinjuku Gyoen, however, a cool summer breeze came from under the shade of large trees, and the children could concentrate on taking photos. While the park was rich in nature – a spacious lawns, large trees, and a pond covered all over with lotus leaves – the high-rise buildings of Shinjuku could be seen through the trees. It appeared to be an oasis in a mega-city. Each group of children of the same grade walked around the park separately to take photos of carp and ducks swimming in the pond, beautiful butterflies flying, and many other subjects.

After taking photographs, each child selected a favorite photo, had it printed out, and put it in a picture frame. They made their works unique by putting words and pictures on the frames–photo titles and the subjects’ speech balloons.