Sake, sunsets and sado-masochism #7Days7Minutes (2016-05-23)

An ever so slightly more VLOGish video with a touch of good booze and good old fashioned BDSM.

Music:
Manny Marx - Complications https://mannymarx.bandcamp.com/track/complications
Manny Marx - Some People https://mannymarx.bandcamp.com/track/some-people
http://mannymarx.com

Psykick - Monsters http://ccmixter.org/files/Psykick/36019



More of my stuff here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darcnoodles/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/darcnoodles

More from the Japanese Underground:
web: http://darc.jp
YouTube: http://bit.ly/darcjp666
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darc.jp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/darcjp666

Coming of age, Sangenjaya, crows and more #7Days7Minutes (2016-1-11)

First #7Days7Minutes of 2016. Let's see how long I can keep these regular  this year :p

Last of 2015 #7Days7Minutes

I tried to get this up while I was in South Africa but the slow internets wasn't having any of it. So. Happy New Year, with the last bits and bobs of the old year!

Incidentally, I'm back in Japan.

My Japan Story: Driving Gunma

Everyone sees Japan as a destination in which to visit more destinations.

Between from 2008 to 2013, I lived in Gunma Prefecture, I drove a Nissan Silvia S14, and found that the best parts of the prefecture, and in fact, the country, are more often than not, the places that are a bit of a drive past the typical destinations, and the best experiences you can have, are the ones that you share with the amazing people you meet on the long, winding road.

To cap off 2015, I rented a Toyota 86, called on some old friends, made some new ones, and went for a drive through nostalgia.

0:02 Rings Autoshop, Owned by Yoshitatsu Kaneda (0:08), Pro drifter and head of Team YRC (Also my closest friend in Japan)

0:35 Mt. Akagi (Shrine and Lake)

1:06 Shibukawa City (My hometown) Many of my earlier vids were shot here, check them out to see more.

1:15 Rokumonsen -essence- My favourite ramen. The Master's mom is essentially my Japanese mother.

1:43 Mt. Haruna

1:49 Mt.Haruna Melody Road. drive at a steady speed and lines in the road play notes as your tires roll over them. Gunma has a bunch of these melody roads on mountain passes throughout the prefecture.

2:11 hidden lookout on Mt. Haruna no locations to this, I take you there or you find it on your own ;)

2:22 Allen Bo, The man behind the Drift Hunter doccie-in-progress.

2:47 Kusatsu Onsen. It's rated the best hot-spring in Japan, and I do quite like it, but the water is too hot and it's always full of tourists, It's a good place to stop and take a break though.

3:36 Tonya, My favorit Tonkatsu place. Prices are average but value is phenomenal. Tastes bloody good too.

3:38 Shiriyaki Onsen. A few kilometers away from Kusatsu in the middle of nowhere (Kunimura) is a heated river. Yes. The river itself is a natural hot spring. No entrance fees, No time limits, no restrictions and on clear winter nights, an infinite ceiling of stars.

3:49 Convenience store munchies aka a drivers' lifeblood.

4:07 Takayama

4:11 The Nihon Romantic Highway. 350 twisting kilometres of mountain roads from Tochigi, through Gunma and into Nagano. An epic drive,  with almost no public transport access.

4:20 Shout out to MannyMarx, The man who made the music for this vid (and many of my other ones too). Producing Frank Corva's (4:26) new solo album.

4:39 My old place... Now a parking-lot

5:03 I'll be back soon.

Toyama, Fireflies and 2 Shinkansen | 7 DAYS 7 MINUTES (2015-06-29)

I was shooting In Toyama for work, bonus is that I het to show you some too.

Obama makes the best fish in the world!

I had work in Obama, Fukui Prefecture so I've hogged this 7 days 7 minutes with some drives, panoramas and a little left over work footage of the town, the surrounding countryside and it's primary delicacy. Fresh grilled fish.

There is a dash of Tokyo in there too for those of you who like the big, boring city.

MUSIC:
"Give it Up (Start Again)" by snowflake (feat. Subliminal)

Licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

7 Days 7 Minutes (2014-08-18) Driving through Akita, Fireworks, Udon and more...

00:00 MONDAY Train Zombies (Shibuya, Tokyo)
01:00 TUESDAY The Boonies (Yuzawa, Akita)
02:00 WEDNESDAY Driving Akita (Akita)
03:35 notTHURSDAY Trippy Noodles (Mitsunashi, Akita)
04:35 FRIDAY Fo Shiga ma Nigga! (Nagahama, Shiga)
05:30 notSATURDAY Akita Shinkansen (Daisen, Akita)
06:00 SUNDAY Fire Flowers (Kawasaki, Kanagawa)

Friday Music: Mama by The Living 

For the full tracklisting of what I was listening to in the car on Wednesday, hit the jump.
Ive stuck the location links in there too.

The Great East Japan Tour

I've been busier than a former AKB girl turned hooker over the last few weeks, and the places I've been generally didn't have connectivity or I didn't have the time to use the connectivity to blog. I apologise. 

I left for Shibukawa, Gunma on the 9th, and rode the 50cc 6 hours on the backroads to get there. I stayed with Yoshitatsu that night and the next morning we pulled out at 2am to go to Nikko Circuit for the DRiFTWiRED1 drift event. 

When I got back The Cat told me that her grandfather wasn't doing well and the next morning I got the call that he passed away. I met up with her and her sisters in Takasaki, Gunma we went back to Nagano for the funeral and proceedings.

After the funeral, I hopped the shinkansen back to Gunma and participated in the Shibulawa Dashi Matsuri. Which is and was one of the highlights of my life when it comes around every 2 years. It was good to be home. 

After 2 days of festival and a day to replace the Chain on my bike, I rode back to kawasaki and barely had a day to recover some semblance of sanity before hopping a Shnkansen for 5 hours to Akita in the far north.

I interviewed the heads of the Yamamo Soy Sauce company and a maker of Inaniwa Udon (one of the best known types of udon in Japan)

Back on the shinkansen to Kawasaki where I had a night in my own bed before heading west to Nagahama, in Shiga Prefecture, on the shores of Like Biwa, Japan's largest lake. 

The work was to interview the management team at Top Seiko, one of the world's most precise ceramic and tungsten machining companies. 

I then tool a look around the Kurokabe area, near Nagahama Station, where one of Japan'a oldest downtown shopping areas has been preserved and still serves the same purpose. Lack of money prevented me form taking too much time there. 

I hopped back on the shink and finally headed back home where I am now putting together a craptonne of articles, images and videos  over the next 2 weeks before getting on more trains and heading to more exotic destinations.

not my actual route or transport method but accurate sense of scale

ライスと侍 危機一髪 Rice and The Samurai's near miss - DRiFTWiRED 1 - 2014-08-10 日光サーキット - Nikko Circuit

やっぱり侍はすごい。

The Drift Samurai displays mad skill avoiding Rice Kobayashi's shiny new S14.

7 Days 7 Minutes (2014-06-30) Nagano, A Holy Vending Machine, Driving and More...

00:00 notMONDAY Nagano is Beautiful
01:00 TUESDAY Just Driving
02:00 WEDNESDAY First World Problems
03:00 THURSDAY Bird Watching
04:00 FRIDAY Holy Vending Machine
00:00 notSATURDAY Anti-Nuclear Protest
00:00 notSUNDAY Always the best part of the trip.

Tuesday music was all shuffled form my iPod while driving.

Thursday Tune by Manny Marx. Support him and his epic music.

Locations:

Chikuma City, Nagano


Zenko-ji, Nagano City, Nagano (fri & sat)

7 Days 7 Minutes (2014-06-23) Touchscreen Vending Machines, a cute caterpillar and more...

 

00:00 MONDAY - The Crossing <location>
01:00 TUESDAY - Jesus Plant
02:00 WEDNESDAY - 0.7x Wide Angle Converter is Wide
03:00 THURSDAY - Touchscreen Vending machine <location>
04:00 notFRIDAY - SOFA KING CUTE!!!!!!! <location>
05:00 notSATURDAY - DAMN! <location>
05:35 SUNDAY First decent drive since Okinawa <location>

notFriday Music: Mr. Punch by The Living

Japan, How It Is - Driving around Okinawa.

Midwinter in Okinawa. I had time and a rental car... So I drove. And talked. And drove.

tunage once again by Manny Marx off his album Vagabond. Check it out. Download it free, or pay what you can.

as always, Like if you like it, dislike if you dislike it and leave a comment here ort on the video telling me what you think!

7 Days 7 Minutes (2013-12-09)

I’ve been busier than a cop in Hillbrow on New Year’s Eve.. this is a week late... but better late than pregnant.

MONDAY 00:00:00 - More Shibuya
TUESDAY 00:01:00 - WORK! (Not a Job)
WEDNESDAY 00:02:00 - Best friends are best.
THURSDAY 00:03:00 - Home
notFRIDAY 00:04:00 - Driving in Gunma
SATURDAY 00:05:00 - Bang the Drums
SUNDAY 00:06:00 - Hot Pot

7 Days 7 Minutes (2012-11-25)

MONDAY 00:00:00 - Want Music?
TUESDAY 00:01:00 - GINZA
WEDNESDAY 00:02:00 - Winter Drive
THURSDAY 00:03:00 - Akiba Article
FRIDAY 00:04:00 - A Painful Car indeed
SATURDAY 00:05:00 - OMIYA
SUNDAY 00:06:00 - Piece of Shit Camera

Tuesday Tune: お願い (Onegai) By MANNY MARX http://mannymarx.bandcamp.com/track/onegai
You can get his music free... or you can pay however much you want.

Wednesday link: Japan How It Is: Fukui City http://youtu.be/nH6P4PO55fU

Friday link: My Article on PC World: http://goo.gl/7MshcP

7 Days 7 Minutes (2013-06-17)

7 Days 7 Minutes (2013/05/27)

Monday: Feeding the beast (Petrol station)

Tuesday: Braai & Beer

Wednesday: Gratitude (You guys are epic!)

Thursday: I'm an Idiot.

Friday: Snack Bar

Saturday: Random Shinjuku 

Sunday: Random Ebisu Circuit (DRIFT!)

Japan, How it is - How to Volunteer in Touhoku

This is the supplemental video to my Previous Volunteering Video 

In this one, I give you all the info you need to know about volunteering.

It is pretty long so feel free to skip to the bits you want to know about.

links:

Ofunato City Volunteer Center: http://ameblo.jp/ooshakyo/

Save Minami Soma Project: http://saveminamisoma.org/

It's Not Just Mud: http://itsnotjustmud.com/

World, How It Is.

http://www.youtube.com/worldhowitis

Twitter: @worldhowitis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldhowitis

7 Days 7 Minutes (2013/05/20)

Monday: New CD (Korpiklaani - Karkelo)
Tuesday: Amazon sent me gifts
Wednesday: X-Box whut?
Thursday: Spectacular view from the top of Mt. Haruna
Friday: Follow Friday: World how it is https://www.youtube.com/user/Worldhowitis
Saturday: Karaoke Live (featuring Ibara)
Sunday: Blood Dragon mu~~fu'kurs!

7 Days 7 Minutes 01 (2013/05/13)

Monday:	An Introduction
Tuesday:	Testing a mike in my engine bay (Turbo Blow off FTW)
Wednesday:	Japanese Nazis
Thursday:	Level crossing (ZOMG a TRAIN!)
Friday:	Follow Friday: SerpentZA https://www.youtube.com/user/serpentza
Saturday:	Ramen at Tsuki-ya (Same place as the Reggae and Ramen vid http://goo.gl/9V8k1
Sunday:	Braai

Ebisu circuit. Much ado about nothing

I went up to Ebisu circuit this past Friday as I had an itchy right foot that needed to be scratched. I had intended to get a full day’s practice in but by mid day I hung my arse off the track a bit too far and fell into a ditch.