Author: travel67

David Carradine – Kill Bill – Hattori Hanzo – Kiyochika Kanehama

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It was announced on the news today that David Carradine is dead. I am a little too young to have grown up watching the TV show Kung Fu, but I am sure that for many this will be a sad day. In recent years Carradine returned to fame as Bill in Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. For those who haven’t seen the movies, in one of the scenes in Kill Bill Part 1, Uma Thurman travels to Okinawa to get a samurai sword made by sword smith Hattori Hanzo. A couple of years ago I did an interview with the only real sword smith in Okinawa – Kanehama Kiyochika. I even got to ask him about Kill Bill… From the age of 22 to 31, Kiyochika Kanehama trained as an apprentice swordsmith. At a forge in the Japanese Alps, his sensei Kiyomune Miyairi taught him how to create a blade from lumps of iron ore. For years, he studied the process of folding and honing metal to produce edges so sharp that they are considered a …

Gran Turismo 5 – the trailer

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Gran Turismo is a car racing simulator for the Sony Playstation. As the Playstation evolved from PS1 to Ps3, the game also grew in size and complexity, each time amazing gamers with super realistic graphics and incredibly realistic driving.  The popularity and importance of this game to Sony is huge, over 50 million units have been sold. The release of Gran Turismo 5 is comparable to that of a hollywood blockbuster. Although there is no set release date, the first trailers have appeared. Things have certainly come along way since the days of Pong.  

The Beastie Boys – Japanese Street Icons?

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At the 2009 MTV Video Awards Japan, the Beastie Boys were presented with the Street Icons Award by Nigo. Not sure how this award was decided as most young Japanese  have no idea who the Beastie Boys are.  The Beastie Boys are however obvious fans of Japan. Why else would you dress up as Japanese construction workers and dance in Shibuya and Shinjuku train stations. And who better to defend Tokyo from an enormous octopus headed monster than the Beastie Boys at the helm of a giant robot.

Print Prices – Why the change in currency?

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As some people have pointed out, a few months ago the prices for limited edition prints available on my website suddenly changed from US dollars to Japanese yen. At exhibitions in Japan all the prices for my prints are in yen. With fluctuating exchange rates, the only way to guarantee that the prices are the same whether you purchase on the website or through a gallery was to have everything in the same currency. You can check the prices in your local currency using a universal currency converter. Paypal will convert the amount from yen to your local currency when checking out, along with taking all the necessary shipping details. As always, A2 and A3 size prints include free international shipping and insurance.

Okinawan Bull Fighting

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During the summer months bull fighting takes place in several bull rings on Okinawa.  I have mixed feelings on the whole situation. Compared to Spanish bull fighting it is delightful. Okinawan bull fighting is a battle between equals rather than men against beast. The Okinawan bulls lock horns and then push each other until the weaker bull turns and runs. The bulls are not killed, and are looked after by their owners better than many pets. Near where I live, you regularly see the bulls being taken for walks. ( Something I really should photograph now that I think about it. ) Some bulls however do get injured, which is hardly surprising when both combatants have a big pointy horn on either side of their head. With the potential for animals to be injured or even killed is the cost of this entertainment too great?

Happy Birthday Big Ben

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Today is the 150th birthday of Big Ben. I am aware that Big Ben is the bell rather than the building surrounding it, but you can look at the photos and imagine the bell nonetheless! These pictures were taken a couple of years ago when Britain was having a terrible summer of almost constant rain. Just happened that the weekend I was in London was glorious weather. Hoorah!

Ryukyu Shimpo

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In today’s Ryukyu Shimpo (one of the newspapers in Okinawa) there was a short piece about my exhibition at Cotonoha. It’s a bit of a shame that it was published when my exhibition is only up for another couple of days, but better later than never. I’m going to be hanging out at Cotonoha Saturday and Sunday afternoon, so if you are in the area drop by and say hello (or konichiwa).

Turin Shroud – An early photograph?

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The Turin Shroud: How da Vinci Fooled History was lent to me on my last photo trip so I had something to read on the train. The book is the research about how Picknett and Prince came to the conclusion that the Turin Shroud was not just a forgery ( as previously shown by carbon dating ) but that it was a primitive photograph created by Leonardo da Vinci.  Most of the book is not particularly well written and was a bit of a struggle to get through. They go into detail about the history of the shroud, and the various different theories regarding its creation. The book did become interesting in the penultimate chapter when they describe how they tried to create a similar shroud image using techniques da Vinci (in their opinion a skilled chemist, artist, physician, physicist, and heretic) may have used. Their process involved producing a simple camera obscura with a primitive lens to project an image onto a piece of white linen. The authors thought da Vinci even used a model …

Secret Bunker

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It turns out that Britain had a series of secret bunkers for use in the event of a nuclear attack. (Just like in Terminator 3) But how do you find your nearest top secret bunker…. Photograph taken by my dad. I now suspect he is working for the KGB.