Shin Yamato Damacy ~ Episode 06 ~ Tokyo Auto Salon 2010

We hit the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon to see what all the hubbub was about…

Old School - Yoshioka

 
It was cold… We were done at the Komochi Orphanage for another shweet session with the kids and Hisami decided to take us to a piece of ‘real’ Japan. So up Mt.Haruna we climbed… in the snow… on my balding normal tires. It actually did get a bit scary towards the end. But somehow we made it.

It really was cold…
So basically this place is an old school tourist house to give people a taste of what Japan was like in the good(bad) ol’ days. It looked Idyllic. Taken straight out of a post card. A warm fire in the the centre of the room. wood and paper and all the trappings of a medieval Japanese dwelling.


They had some blunted Katanas for short people and some holey umbrellas for posing for photos under.

It was actually really cool…

and cold.

But it was still very much one of those ‘Its great to be in rural Japan’ moments. It gave the perfect dose of nostalgia for the romanticised myth of the way things were to leave a fuzzy warm haze (and wood-smoke odour) lingering around me for the rest of the day.

Komochi Children’s Home… Round 3

I love this place.

I really do.

This session was a valentines day shindiggerymabobbie. Essentially we made V-Cards for each other. Kids had a blast, I had a blast. that's all that matters really ;)

The kids were in top form. Genki and super excited to have us there. I don't know how much it really means to them but I reckon it must be pretty damn good just judging by their excitement at having us there.

They do have a tendency to mock our horrific Japanese but its all in good fun. I don’t have any problem with it… Poor Jeevy however got quite uptight about it. I say its their way of appreciating us being there for them. They really don’t want to insult us.

   

Jeevs had a pretty cool game which I intend to steal and strip of it’s Canadianism re-use at Kita-chu

  Not much else to say really… I’ll go back!

Shibuya ~5 hit combo~

Christmas Cards 2009 ~5 hit combo~

in imperial japan, snow shovels you!

No major story behind this post… Just pictures of snow.

New Neighborhood watchman. Snow patrol?

My car looks like tasty.

Kappa (Japanese Tokoloshe) tracks on my car

My Neighbor Orottot ;)

 

My bike has been there since the end of October.

 

Traditional Canadian Cuisine.

HDR – Its harder than it looks

I finally started wrapping my head around the concept of HDR photography.

According to Wikipedia:

high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

Basically it means the pictures are more pretty than real life.

So these are my first 2 attempts… I have some more in the pipe but it takes some time to get them done… and time is something that seems to be lacking at the moment.

clicky the piccie to get the biggie:

 

What do you think?

Any Good?

Feedback peeps!

Rock Musical Bleach – Live Bankai Show Code:003

ZARAKI KENPACHI SINGING!!!!!!!

Ok so if that picture is not enough of a reason to explain why I desperately wanted to see this show, not much else is :p
A friend sent out a message over the book of face asking if anyone was keen on the Bleach Musical… I was he only one who was. Admittedly I was in it for the shits and giggles and because I knew it would make peeps jealous… and its one of those Once in a lifetime, only in Japan sort of things. So i said stuff it, Shelled out Y6600 (which is more pricy than any VK one man I have been to thus far) and went along.
My friend was uber amped for the show. Her bleach fandom far exceeds mine (I stopped watching after they rescued Rukia… the rest is bullshit) but I did really enjoy the 70 odd eps that I did watch. I was more in it for the lulz. I didn’t expect anything special and wasn’t worried about anything really… besides seeing Zaraki Kenpachi on stage singing :p
As a result the awesomeness of the show took me by surprise.
The music was typically Jpop and nothing special. The emotional songs were not emotional enough, the inspirational songs threatened to inspire me but didn’t take me all the way and the funny songs were only worth a chuckle. The accompanying show however, that was extremely entertaining. Having said that however Some of the individual singers, especially Rukia and Hinamori (Miki Sato & Kumiko Saito) They actually did have what it takes to stir me, which was pretty impressive. In fact, most of the female cast was pretty damn good at singing.
It was a Live Bankai Show so it didn’t follow any storyline… It was more a best of show with a bunch of the best songs from the previous 5 runs and 2 live Bankai shows with one (I think) new song.
It was essentially a fanservice show.

“We were not watching actors… We were watching the actual characters as they appear in our world ”

The character impersonations were perfect. We were not watching actors… We were watching the cast the actual characters as they appear in our world . Personalities were perfect and the attitudes were spot on.
Audience interaction was great. More like a live than a musical in that sense. Many tines, members of the cast moved through the audience. Even up close however they felt like the real deal. At the beginning Soi Fong even did the please don’t stand up during the show and don’t take pictures during the show speech… or as she put it…

“If I catch you taking pictures of my beloved Yoruichi-sama, I’ll kill you”

Being that it wasn’t a storyline driven show it felt like a Kon special almost (which are some of my favourite parts of the TV series) It was unbelievably funny (If you know Bleach) and the little skits between songs were gutwrenchingly hilarious.
Roll all the aspects together and you have a thoroughly brilliant show. It didn’t leave you feeling shattered and alive like many of the live bands I have seen. But the feelgood sensation that it imparted is softly glowing inside me even as I type this.
If Deluhi live was like a crazy night in a love hotel with an earthshatteringly beautiful (15/10) and extremely energetic sex machine. The Bleach live could be compared to dating someone who makes you feel like you want to be with them for a long time even if they are only 7/10 in the looks department. 

Squid Biltong

I shit you not… Baby squid biltong. It wasn’t unpleasant… Hell it was even a little tasty… but I wont be in a hurry to consume any more anytime soon.