Aesthetics

Now, on to some of the neighbourhoods in the largest metropolitan area of the world (and my favourite city), Tokyo!

Asakusa is a major tourist spot in Tokyo. Naturally this area houses many hotels and Japanese style Ryokan, and even a capsule hotel (for those interested ;)). It was my first time visiting Asakusa, and I liked it. Main attractions: Senso-ji temple and the river cruise, going down the Sumida river to the Hinode Pier.

Stampeding tourists all over the temple grounds. The surrounding streets feel like walking onto the set of an Edo period movie. Traditional and souvenir shops everywhere.

One of the gates.

Temple gate guardian. Not sure if it’s Fujin or Raijin.

The Tsukiji fish market from the river side. Used to be a huge tourist magnet until they banned the tourists from the “inner market” because they where getting in the way of the actual auctioning.

From the river you can get a great view of the Tokyo Sky Tree, currently under construction. After completion it will be tallest structure in Japan. (I wonder what will happen to the Tokyo Tower?)

And it is a very long tail indeed. Historical artifacts from as far back as the stone age can be viewed at the numerous museums in Seoul. If you like your history, or martial history like I do, you will be pleasantly surprised.
What I found interesting was the well documented interaction between the people of the Korean peninsula and the Chinese and Japanese cultures during the different periods, and the influence they had on each other.
Especially the conquests campaigns by different tribes and cultures , the following military developments and battles. These where displayed with periodical weapons and armors and strategy explanations.

More recently, and still very tangible today, was of course the war that divided Korea. High School history told me that during the cold war there where no actual military confrontations between Communist and Capitalist forces. Well they need to rewrite those books. Korea was and still is very much the staging ground for confrontations between communist and capitalist military forces.
At the war memorial museum I found the largest collection of postWW2 military machinery ever. I have never seen so many plains, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, artillery, rockets and helicopters together before in my life.

OK, so I missed the hanami in Japan this year. But in return I got to discover the interactive playground called Seoul. Here are a few examples I have encountered:

Interactive touch screen for your local map information or subway guide. Also shows banks, restaurants and what not. Very informative, and just begging to be used.
The Samsung promotional display stand. Found it at the Coex mall in front of the cinema. This stand has a 3D holographic display of the newest cellphone model centred in the middle. Around this you find screens that interact by moving cubes around on a table.
You can also play with the new models which are hooked up to a big screen at the pillars.

A word to all forward looking Media designers/developers, this is the place to be!

A few more sights of Seoul

Hi all,
a quick sketch in PS inspired by the hinamatsuri.
Status update and more to follow.

Been working my ass off ;P. All the pages have been filled up with content now, except for the movie-gallery. There is still a lot to do and so little time. I’m hoping to finish the general parts tomorrow, leaving me with just the tweaking and polishing.

Viva gotoandlearn.com!

Hey peeps! Recently I have started with the completion of my little website. It is meant to be more of a portfolio site which needs to start bringing in the costumers for commissioned works and other projects. For now it serves as a assignment to bring in some much needed credits that I need to graduate. Now, programming is not my thing, so Flash presents a big challenge for me. Hopefully it will turn out looking spiffy!

Here is a bit of the design, still a wip though ;).
On another note. Countdown has started for the last couple of days I can call myself a student. By the end of this month I will have (finally!) earned that little piece of paper and call myself a Bachelor graduate in Communication and Multimedia Design. That is if I am able to finish my thesis and get the last remaining credits.
Who needs sleep when you can graduate, right?

Nearing the end of my 4 month stay in Japan I can say that it was a good overall experience. I’m finishing the Interactive Video project for my thesis and results are looking good.
Started packing my stuffs yesterday. Loads of things to dump, more things to keep and a lot to fit into my suitcase. Got most of the presents but will need to do a bit of shopping before heading home.

Here are some pictures from the last weekend trip.
We did 2 onsens as well, and they where amazing. I now understand why Japanese love these.
(Sorry, no pictures of naked lady’s in the onsen ;P)
And some more snapshots from the trip…

Just got back from Hong Kong. For now just a few quick snapshots. Enjoy..

Living and working in Okazaki, and used the European (night) life style it gets kind of boring after a short while. The closest place for a good time would be Nagoya, 4th largest city in Japan.
A short trip with a rapid train will have you in sprawling Nagoya city center within 25 minutes from Okazaki JR station.Close to Nagoya station you’ll find shops like Big Camera (where I got my laptop) and some of the more red tainted (*wink..wink*) entertainment venues.

Just 2 subway stations away you’ll find Sakae, THE hotspot in Nagoya.
This district has department stores, electronic stores, book stores, fashion and pop stores, foods and drink shops, dicso’s and bars, Live houses and so on.
Using the tv tower as an orientation point it is kind of hard to get lost, though getting a map (I found a Nagoya guide with map at the subway exit, for free) is most helpfull.
Some of the things I did during my visits to Nagoya:
‘Tabe hodai’, all you can eat buffy for 1 hour.

You could go and get your own food on a stick and fry them @ your table. Great fun. With 4 people we had (see above) amount of sticks after 1 hour of gorging.This restaurant is located in the building next to the tv tower, 3rd floor if I remember correctly.

The park that runs trough Sakae hosts live performances on Sundays…

The import store! The perfect place to go shopping if you feel homesick. It imports all the stuff other countries are well known for. Like for instance you will find from Holland: cheese, stroop waffels, chocolate, chocolat spread.
A little taste of home will help you through the long dark periods of Japanese / japanised cusine.

Motown live house / soul bar Garry’s:

A taste of the sites and atmosphere in Sakae …
Some dude in a clown suit promoting something…

Yes they have an apple store..

Did you know that in Japan every city has it’s very own designed man-hole covers? These I found in Nagoya:

Osashiburi desuuuu. Been a while :)
Here is a small report of my first ever hanami in Japan. I say first, because there was a second. But that’s a post for another time ;).
Generally Japanese spend the few days that the cherry blossoms bloom chatting, eating and drinking with there family and friends underneath the cherry tree’s. Sounds nice, except that everyone in Japan joins in. And as we all know, Japan is a crowded place.

We went with a group of friend to Okazaki castle park. A beautiful park with the castle overlooking the park (some claim the castle provides the best scenic view of Sakura’s in Japan), a temple and rows and rows of Sakura tree’s.
The park is located close to the river. On the banks of the river and in the park there where food stalls where they sell all kinds of festival foods and have games for kids.
(And even a hunted house…..)
Fun times indeed. Around this time the Sakura blossoms where about halfway in bloom and it was rather cold. Enough excuse for another visit!