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Colour Hunting: The hot new street photography trend changing how we see Japan

Oona McGee Jun 7, 2026
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Some might say you haven’t truly seen Japan if you haven’t colour hunted.

Recently, an activity called “colour hunting” has been gaining popularity in Japan. Simply put, it involves choosing a colour theme and then, while walking around town, taking photos of things that match that colour, before compiling them into a single image.

The results are remarkably mesmerising, but what’s even more interesting is the way it encourages you to notice details you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, giving you a whole new perspective on your surroundings.

Always keen to try out a trend, we decided to conduct our very own colour hunt, both in a rural residential area and in the heart of Tokyo, to see what we could find. The theme we chose was yellow, and as we set out on our walk, which was a familiar one, it didn’t take long for us to spot things we’d never noticed before.

▼ Like the fittings on a metal barrier…

▼ … flowers growing by the side of the pavement…

▼…netting over garbage collection areas…

▼…and, of course, the road signs.

Moving further down the street and into the main hub of town, our eyes began to spy yellow in slightly more unusual places, like the cube of partially melted butter on the “butter chicken curry” banner outside an Indian restaurant.

▼ The yellow “prescription services” sign outside a local drugstore…

▼ …and the yellow on a pack of Calbee chips.

With our eyes now instinctively zoning in on shades of yellow, the sunny colour began to lift our mood. It also became something of a scavenger hunt, and after around an hour of walking, our prize was this composite image of all the yellow we’d seen.

The images actually painted a picture of quaint countryside life, and now we were ready to take things up a notch by colour hunting in the heart of Tokyo.

Walking around Shimbashi, it didn’t take long for our eyes to zone in on yellow, with this “Money Exchange” sign being our first find of the afternoon.

▼ We also spotted a large bee on a coin locker nearby.

This was already turning out better than expected, and our search for the sunny hue continued in earnest when we stopped to photograph a yellow lantern advertising Suntory whisky highballs.

▼ Crates of Hoppy, a beer-flavoured low-alcohol drink were also outside.

▼ And nearby, a branch of the Go Go Curry chain.

At this point, we were so honed in on yellow that people wearing the colour, or carrying yellow items, began to stand out as they attracted our gaze.

▼ When our eyes landed upon Sora-jiro doing a live weather forecast, we couldn’t help but smile.

▼ Sora-jiro is the mascot character for Nippon Television and its weather forecast.

Continuing on our stroll, we came across even more yellow sightings.

We began to realise just how well yellow works in attracting the eye, leading it to be used on a number of signs like the “advertising recruitment” ones on these coin lockers…

▼ …and this one, which reads “Last two buildings”.

Just as we thought we were done for the day, we came across these figures, which are actually designed to be used as seating benches.

Compiling our photos from Shimbashi, the look and feel was entirely different to our rural collection, capturing the finer details that give Tokyo its unique charm.

Hunting for the same colour in two different locations revealed an interesting contrast in subjects and mood – whereas the rural scenes mostly contained images of flowers and signs, in Tokyo there was more grit and extra variety, as objects and characters played a greater role. It was such a fun, eye-opening adventure that we’re now keen to hunt for more colours around town, and connect with all the hidden finds areas we would otherwise miss.

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