Kitamoto nights, Ikebukuro trips, Shibuya ollies & more... #7Days 7Minutes (2016-06-06)

This one has a fair bit of travel in it.
Kitamoto (Saitama) Ikebukuro, Sugamo & Shibuya (Tokyo) and Shibukawa (Gunma)

Music:
DNA Activation by Jon Andre Lundal
Spontaneous Combustion by iawkwardlobster

Watch: Japan How It Is - Getting a Haircut:
https://youtu.be/swFVUlyTgWw


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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.

A long walk from Shibuya to Oimachi | JAPAN, How It Is.

Shot in Spring, Edited and released in Autumn. That super fast turnaround time is why The Germanator is joining the fray. On the bright side, this is long enough that you can digest through it for the next 6 months it takes me to work through some of my other backlogged videos ;)

The title is self explanatory, I took a walk through Tokyo and you get to join me on it.

World How It Is Official channel
My Co-Producer, The Germanator

*1 04:33 If you get this reference, tell me if you can spot the others I make from the same source.

*2 08:03 Review of Suzuran in Ebisu.

*3 15:08 No. It's the Yamanote line, but the cut was so obvious that I thought I'd make a joke that only English Teachers in Japan would truly appreciate.

*4 17:19 https://youtu.be/BRDBvKGc1fE

*5 21:26 Sam and Joe 

*6 24:27 Orion Beer. Google it!

Buy "Makla'Tosh" by The Uchujins here:
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stream on Spotify

Daikoku - a petrolhead's Mecca #JapaneseRides

When some mates were over earlier in the year, they rented a sports car and enlisted me as the driver. When you have a couple of petrolheads to show around there is only one place to Take them.

I took too many shots to stick on here... I put the rest on FLICKR.

Hit this link to peep them.

Nagasaki, cats, Japan from the sky and more | 7 Days 7 Minutes (2015-05-25)

Music: "Ant Tube" by Tyler Abstract - https://soundcloud.com/tylerabstract

Shibuya Nightwalk

I have been doing some part-time layout design in Omotesando at the same place The Cat works, and, because I'm poor, on the trip home, I've been walking to Shibuya to save an extra ¥120 on the train trip. I've also been leaving my camera at home a lot more recently because, at the Tokyo Autosalon, my main 12-35 f2.8 X lens' autofocus system died a spectacular death (I cant afford to get it fixed either... hell. I can't even afford to take the train to Akihabara to get a quote form the Panny repair centre, let alone pay their price.) and if the camera dies too, as my bad-luck, QC-skipped one has a history of doing, I'll be proper screwed financially.

But because it was snowing on Friday, i popped on the 20mm f1.7 pancake and put it in my bag, just in case. The snow was all gone by the time I was done for the day, but I did have the chance to actually take pictures for fun, which I haven't really done in a very long time.

All shots are untouched apart from the odd crop/straighten and the removal of the Aston's Number-plate. Most were shot with the camera's built in vivid colour mode in aperture priority (cars were Auto)

It felt really good. so good that I'm contemplating abusing the credit card to get a second body so that I have a backup, and a daily shooter again. I probably wont unless it actually dies again... at which point I will sell all my Panny kit and go sony because I'm really sick and tired of Panasonic's overly polite, but effectively useless after-sales service, and their woeful lack of pro support.

Anyway... Pictures:

If you want to see these at double the resolution, check my FLICKR profile.

Japan How It Is - A Long Walk through Downtown Fukuoka

I take a walk through downtown Fukuoka on a quest for epic ramen.
music by Manny Marx and The Living.

Tokyo Protesters March in Solidarity with the US - #TOKYO4FERGUSON

On December 6th the African American Youth Travel Program (AAYTP) organised a protest against police brutality, racism and injustice in solidarity with the protests in the US and around the world.

#MikeBrown #EricGarner #Tokyo4Fergusnon #EnoughIsEnough #ICantBreathe #HandsUpDontShoot

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