Tokyo Game Show

I recently took a break from the calm streets of Shiogama and took a relaxing trip to the busy streets of Tokyo. I was able to stay with my host family and eat some really good home cooking and other food that I just cannot find here. It was really good to go back to Tokyo and see old friends!

I was also lucky because I was able to go to the Tokyo Game Show which was the same weekend. I am not going to lie, I like video games but I am not obsessed with them like some of my friends and while I am glad I went, I most likely will never go again. Part of the reason why was just because it was SO crowded! Above is a demonstration of Nintendo's next generation console called Wii. What makes this special is the remote controll acts like a motion sensor so instead of pressing a button to swing a baseball bat, you swing your arm.

The venue where it was held was huge but around anything worth while it was like being in a Tokyo subway during rush hour. Above is close to Sony's new Play Station 3. I got close to one but I did not have so much time so I didn't wanna wait in a really long line to play it. I will say the videos of the games I saw were really impressive!

Finally what would any major event in Japan be without costumes (known as cosplay--costume play). Anyone who is even the slightest gamer should be able to tell who the above people are.

Japanese TV is wierd

Here is a clip from a Japanese TV show. Basically the rule is you can't laugh or else you get beat with a stick... Pretty interesting and sometimes funny if you are a little immature like me. :-)

SC is coming to town for Christmas!

No not Santa Clause, the other SC, Souvik Chatterjee. Many of you probably know him, either personally or through word of mouth by me, as I am very likely to have talked about him. Souvik was the my first Indian friend that was when I met him in 2nd grade, I saw his name tag next to my seat before he came to school and I thought bc of his (ad the time) strage name that he was a girl. I am pretty sure we became good friends almost as soon as I realized that he wasn't a girl. Anyway I have known for about 16 years or roughly 2/3 of my life and in that time he has introduced me to such fine things as Butter Chicken (or Chicken Mahkini in some places), Naan, Super Nintendo and the Ball Game (think about if only two goalies played soccer in a room where you are sitting on the ground and cant kick the ball but instead try and roll it passed the other goalie...that is the Ball Game). Anyway, it is still a couple months til December but while I have had my family visit already, this is the first friend who will come to visit me and I can't wait to show one of my best friends around Japan!!

Roving Eye

What is RovingEye? It is another website where you can find my photos, but this time my photos are being sold as stock photos for a new company from Australia. How did this happen? Well, the director happened to be browsing sportsshooter.com where I have some photos of Japan as well and sent me an email inviting me to join RovingEye.com. After checking with some people who have been in the business about the percentage cut, the contract and the company to make sure it was legit, I decided I would join. So if you want to buy some stock images or know somebody who does, put in a good word for me and forward them to RovingEye.com!

Hokkaido: Furano and Biei

After Lake Toya it was back to Sapporo to watch FIBA World Basketball Championships, which I already posted about. At this point the weather was suppose to be cloudy/rainy the rest of the week. I had planned on going up to Rebun and Rishiri (the two most northern islands of Japan) but since it was a 6 hour train rain and then a two hour ferry both ways, I decided I didnt wanna do all that just to sit in the rain....so of course, after the I cancelled my reservations and after basketbal finished, wouldn't wouldn't you know it the weather changed.


So instead of going to Rebun and Rishiri, I went to Furano and Biei, areas famous for the flowers and rolling hills. So famous that I am pretty sure if you have seen flower photos from Japan, it was most likely from one of these two places. Anyway, I was a little sad I didn't make it up north but I ended up getting some good shots here.

To see all the photos from Furano and Biei go here.

Hokkaido: Toyako

After Hakodate it was off to Lake Toya to enjoy some more cloudy weather!! *sigh* Lake Toya is a really cool lake with some neat hills/mountains in the middle. Also it is really famous for hot springs...which since I don't really like REALLY hot water, especially in the summer, I was really disapointed that the cloudy weather continued.... Anyway, in the summer every night they have a small festival like thing where people dance, sing, and play the drums and then they have fireworks. Like most places in Hokkaido it would have been easier to get around had I rented a car, but I didn't, so that is that.


Anyway, check out all the photos.

Hokkaido: Hakodate

Next it was off to Hakodate, the 3rd largest city in Hokkaido. It is at the southern tip of Japan’s largest island, about 3 hours by train from Sapporo. Hakodate is most famous for the spectacular nightview it has to offer of the city and Tsugaru Strait from Mount Hakodate (334 meters). I was there for two days but only one night and my luck with weather had yet to change, so at night it was too cloudy to see anything from the mountain, above is the view during the day time when it was still a little cloudy and below is the ropeway I took to get to the top.

Besides the view it is also famous for some old western style buildings. To me they are not that interesting because, well, I am from the west, but maybe you are more interested in them than I am. I was told before I went that sometimes Hakodate feels a little like a ghost town and while I wouldn’t go as far to agree with that, I can understand why one might get that impression as there didn’t seem to be much going on when I was there. Also if you are a fan of seafood, Hakodate’s Morning Market is a great place to enjoy fresh fish and seafood in the morning. Below are some of the western style buildings.

Check out all of them here.

Site overhaul!

Sorry I have not written more about Hokkaido yet, I promise there is more coming tomorrow, but it came to my attention that my photography travel website (japanphotoguide.com) for Japan has not been performing well in Internet Explorer at all, so I had to make some changes. I am not done fine tuning it yet, but overall I am really happy with the way it is now and seems to be much mroe stable than my previous version. If you notice something strange, please let me know!