Author: travel67

Asakusa Samba Festival, Tokyo

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Dancing in the streets at the 33rd Asakusa Samba Festival in Tokyo. 22 teams including local Japanese and Brazilians bring Samba to the roads around Asakusa Shrine. The event is watched by around 500,000 spectators so the streets do get a little crowded. Some participants went with the iconic sparkly Carnival outfits, while others wore costumes more representative of their region in Japan. This is why you have dancing okonomiyaki. Overall, a fun event, very different from the traditional religious festivals that I usually cover. Maybe I should start checking out the prices of flights to Rio.

Gundam Statue, Odaiba, Tokyo

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There’s an 18-meter Gundam statue in front of DiverCity Tokyo Plaza, Odaiba, Tokyo. I know nothing about Gundam, so I shall turn to Wikipedia. The Gundam Series (ガンダムシリーズ ) is a metaseries of space opera anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or “mecha”) called “Mobile Suits” (MS); usually the protagonist’s MS will carry the name “Gundam.” Sounds a bit like the giant robot suits in the very mediocre Pacific Rim movie.  The statue was pretty impressive, and worth checking out if you’re visiting Odaiba.

Okinawa – International Destination Weddings

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Okinawa is a popular wedding destination for mainland Japanese, and more recently couples from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. I teamed up with the Marine Bijou wedding chapel, and model Yuki to produce some stock imagery that I can use in future projects. I shot with the Pentax 645Z allowing me to provide clients with huge data files if needed. For the “pre-wedding” images I used only natural light then switched to Profoto strobes in the chapel and on the beach. Outdoors in the blazing sunshine, one assistant (Chris) held the Profoto B1 in a white softlight reflector, while another assistant (Cody) held a large Lastolite diffusion panel that put Yuki into soft shade. The strong tropical sunlight really brought out the colors in the ocean, while the diffuser and powerful strobe allowed us to avoid harsh shadows. I got a great series of images so a huge thanks to Marine Bijou, the make up artist, Yuki the model, and assistants Chris and Cody. If you’ve found this blog because you’re looking for a wedding photographer in …

a Cirque ~ Clown Macbeth ~

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I’m starting a new project documenting the traditional dancers of Okinawa. The first group I have met  with is Udui Haru and their teacher Keiko Miyagi. The group were part of a performance of Macbeth on Friday along with the theater group Ryukyu Cirque. The director of the production is Makoto Inoue, who also plays the role of Macbeth. Dancers Riko Sugama, Hitoshi Tamaki, and Chinatsu Higa play the roles of Lady Macbeth, the gatekeeper, and King Duncan. The performances are at the National Theater Okinawa, in Urasoe on Sept 19, Dec 17 and Feb 6. Curtain up at 7pm. Well worth checking out, a unique blend of Shakespeare and the traditional Okinawan arts.

Nao by Aldebaran Robotics

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Along with Pepper, Aldebaran Robotics produce Nao, an autonomous, programmable humanoid robot. Nao is far more advanced than it’s younger sibling. At around US$8000 dollars, it is not really a consumer product, but an innovative way to study robotics. Nao has taken over from Aibo as the robot of choice for educators, and teams of Nao compete in the Robot Soccer World Cup. Of course, Nao is far from human. In fact, as I told the robot at the Softbank store in Tokyo, “You’ll never be a real boy”. Nao made his opinions on the matter quite clear…

Pepper by Aldebaran Robotics

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Pepper is a humanoid robot by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank Mobile. They are currently on display at a few special Softbank stores in Tokyo. Pepper will go on sale in Japan in 2015 with a price tag of around US$2000 dollars. This is a lot of money for a household gadget, but amazingly cheap for high-tech robotics. It is a fraction of the price of Paro the robotic seal or Aibo the robotic dog. My guess is that there will be some kind of obligatory monthly wifi contract you need to sign up for when purchasing Pepper. This would provide updates for the robot and be the main source of income for Softbank.

Total Immersion – Action Asia Magazine September/October 2014

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The September/October issue of Action Asia magazine is now on sale (print and iPad) and has a four-page feature on scuba diving in Okinawa. It’s always good to see your writing and pics in print, especially when it will help boost tourism to Okinawa. I have several more features for other magazines coming out over the next few months, but until they’ve been published I can’t say when, where, or the subject. Stay tuned 🙂