Cyberpunk Cityscapes, late sakura, Iron Maiden and more... #7Days7Minutes (2016-04-11)

I was lazy, so here's 7, minute-long clips. No cuts, only colour grading. And of course, some music.

music:
Warped by Harbinger (via Argofox
https://soundcloud.com/argofox/harbinger-warped

Twilight by MannyMarx
http://mannymarx.com

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

SerpentZA, Culture Shock, sakura petals and more... #7Days7Minutes (2016-04-04)

One of my oldest and best friends, Winston (SerpentZA), finally made it over to Japan. It was the first time we'd met since we he left SA 10 years ago.


Music:
taken from the Sounds like an Earful "freebies" creative commons pack and the YouTube creators' library.

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

Sakura Nights #RandomJapan

Approaching midnight, in a quiet residential park, in a bed-town southwest of the Tokyo madness, the atmosphere is as perfect as the sakura.

Yoyogi Park Hanami #TokyoStreets

I got a new (old) Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm f1.4 lens which I adapted to my a7S and I happened to be near Yoyogi Park with the combo at the height of the cherry blossom blooming this year.




There are a few more shots in the flickr gallery.

The Last Cherry Blossoms of 2014

On the last trip to Nagano, we managed to catch the end of the Cherry Blossom season there. It's probably the last chance for the pink flowers this year. For those of you who don't like all the flowers, rest easy. This is it till next year's spring madness returns.

I'm in Nagano again... And the cherry blossoms are still in bloom.

View from the Kitty park in Chikuma, Nagano earlier today.
For all it's skyscrapers, trains, money and sheeple, Tokyo has nothing that can compare to this.

The effect of clickbaiting will blow your mind!

No it won't actually. But it's both impressive and rather sad how an obviously baited title (and possibly a cute cheerleader) had such a big impact on my page views. I'll take a look at google analytics later and try figure out the details but purely from hits on each post  it's rather obvious the click bait worked wonders. Incidentally, I didn't post this to any other communities or anything besides my own social media outlets. Now I know why all those garbage regurgitation sites do this. clearly it works.

It is still tacky, cheap and lame... and despite my blog needing some miracle in the pageview department, I'll try to avoid the bait unless... it's to take the piss out of the easily baited...


AND CHERRYBLOSSOMS!!!!

7 Days, 7 Minutes (2014-03-31) Spring, cherry blossoms, cheerleaders and more...

00:00 notMONDAY Hanami
01:00 TUESDAY Changing of the Guard - Imperial Palace Tokyo
02:00 WEDNESDAY Spring Rain
03:00 notTHURSDAY  Akasaka Sunset
04:00 FRIDAY Heading to Nagano
05:00 SATURDAY Chikuma City - Nagano Prefecture Location: https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/%E5%8D%83%E6%9B%B2%E5%B8%82%E5%9F%8E%E5%B1%B1%E5%8F%B2%E8%B7%A1%E5%85%AC%E5%9C%92/@36.4798149,138.1399347,17z/data=!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x601d9d1cba8bfb41:0x5d9a6661095efb7b!2sChikuma,+Nagano!3b1!3m1!1s0x0:0x93bcdc8754312eaa
06:00 SUNDAY Formation Flying

Cherry Blossoms and Spring Time in Tokyo ~5 Hit Combo~

Golden Week Volunteering 2012: Part 1 - Sanriku Ditches

I went back to Ofunato this golden week. This time however I was in a rather large company of ALTs who wanted to join me. There were two who had been before but all the rest were first timers.

The Silver Lining ~5 hit combo~

 

the juxtaposition of beauty amidst devastation in Touhoku.

 

Hanami Part 1… Looking at the pretty flowers

In Japan, The end of winter is heralded in with a spectacular  transformation. The brown, barren branches erupt into a flurry of pink as the temperatures start to rise. Spring is upon us!

Last week, we went to Shikishima Park to take a look at them.

Sakura

So I remembered that I had a blog and decided that i need to drop some hasty updates in the next few days…

It is spring in Japan, quite possibly one of the best seasons I have ever experienced in my life, yes even better than Jozi spring and Mid Jozi winter (those who don’t appreciate how awesome our winter days in Jozi are need to go without them for a while)

The beginning of spring in the land of the rising sun is marked by the blooming of cherry blossoms or sakura.

A lot has been said and written and attributed to these flowers. All I can say is that seeing them in real life was an pretty damn awesome.

I tagged along with my new 3rd years when they went to the shrine around the corner from our school (i will find out what it is called sometime or the other) It was the perfect day, the sakura were in full bloom. Hell it was straight out of a movie.

Hanami (looking at the flowers) is one of those must do at least once before you die experiences. The weather, the flowers, the way the entrenched age old Japanese tradition manifests in a modern Japan… and the flowers are pretty too.