This was one of the last photos I took in Japan.
It was my twenty-fifth submission for  Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness“.

This one was on a themed week, with the theme being “Country”.

I’m mentioning this now at the start of the post for a couple of reasons.
The first being that this one was announced about a month prior.
The second being that it challenged me with some of the photos I took in Japan.

I didn’t find it easy to try and get a photo of the countryside.
Most of the times I saw it was whilst on a 新幹線 (Shinkansen), so a lot of the shots I took were of an incredibly poor quality.
There were a few times whilst on a 新幹線 where I’d find myself waiting to get a photo and miss it due to not being experienced with taking photos from a vehicle moving that fast.
When I’d get a photo I’d like, I’d end up becoming somewhat dissatisfied as I would feel it didn’t capture the Japanese countryside well enough, so I’d try and take another.

I did end up with what I feel was a few good photos, but I consider the one that I submitted to be the best of the bunch.

For me, it has a feeling of finality to it.
It was taken about fifteen minutes before arriving at Narita Airport, so I was thinking about the whole trip at the time.
It is also the last photo of the countryside that I took during the trip.

It seems empty, but it’s not.
It’s a nice, peaceful shot.

I’ve included three more photos of the countryside here because I felt it would be appropriate.

The first two were taken on the way to Osaka.

I hope you enjoy.