Japan - Hokkaido Photo Workshop - Day 04

Japan - Hokkaido Photo Workshop - Day 02

Japan - Hokkaido Photo Workshop - Day 01

Last year while I was in Japan I went on the Hokkaido Winter Wonderland Photography Workshop put on by Martin Bailey and had a really excellent time. We traveled around Hokkaido taking photos of Japanese Cranes, Swans, Eagles, Deer, and the winter landscape.

This year I was thinking about going on the workshop again, but when I checked into it, I found out that the workshop was already fully booked up. I didn't think too much more about it until a week before the workshop was scheduled to start and I received an e-mail from Martin saying that there was a last minute cancellation. So there was now an open spot on the workshop if anyone could make it to Japan.

I was expecting it to be pretty expensive for a last minute flight to Japan and that would prevent me from going. But when I checked the airfares, it turned out that Singapore Airlines had flights from LA to Tokyo for less then $700 round-trip. So here I am, freezing my butt off in Hokkaido, but I'm having a great time and hopefully getting some great photos, and even learning thing or two.

Japan - Lunch

Here's a lunch I had at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. It was really good, but the one thing that's a bit strange is the food in the lower left corner, it's raw chicken.

Japan - Fugu!

Fugu (Puffer-fish) is a Japanese delicacy that can be served a number of ways. What makes Fugu interesting is that the fish contains lethal amounts of poison and if prepared incorrectly can result in death to the person eating it. The poison is a very potent neurotoxin that paralyzes the muscles of the body while the person remains fully conscious and eventually they die from asphyxiation.

Because of the danger, chefs have to be licensed to prepare and sell Fugu.

I was actually a little disappointed by the Fugu. I expected a fish that could kill me would have a very exciting taste, but it was actually very mild and a bit boring.

Japan - Shakey's Pizza

When I was a little kid I loved to go to Shakey's Pizza. So when I saw a Shakey's in Japan I had to try it out. Even better was that it was an all you can eat buffet, which in Japan is strangely called a Viking Dinner. Lot's of interesting pizza.

Ham and Potato, Ham and Calamari, Sausage and Corn

Brownie and Marshmallow, Fruit and Corn Flakes, Tuna and Corn, Chicken Nuggets

Ham and Corn, Ham and Corn with White Sause, Brownie Marshmallow

Japan - Dog-Wiz

Dog-Wiz pet store. I'm pretty sure they were thinking Wiz as in smart, but I saw Wiz as slang for peeing. The fact that the sign is yellow doesn't help. So I just kept thinking it was the Dog Pee Pet Store. Maybe it just shows where my mind is.

Dog Pee Happy Forest. That's even stranger. I know I'm not a happy Forrest if a dog pees on me.

Japan - Big American Texas Burger

Japanese McDonald's were having a special series of hamburgers called Big American Burgers. There were four different hamburgers and each hamburger was on sale for a month. While I was in Japan last month for the Hokkaido Photo Workshop, they were selling the Texas Burger, so I had to give one a try. As you can see from the photo, the reality vs. advertising was just a tiny, tiny bit different.

Japan - Strange Store

Get your teeth cleaned and your hair cut at the same time?

California - Mammoth Mountain

This last weekend I went to Mammoth Mountain for a couple of days of skiing. All of the rain that Los Angeles was getting hit Mammoth as a ton of fresh snow. You can see how much snow fell on my truck just in the time I was skiing.

Los Angeles - Supercross

I went to the first Supercross of the season last night in Anaheim.

James Stewart chasing Ryan Dungey

While I was there I tried shooting some slow-motion footage using my Casio EX-FC100 camera. This is James Stewart chasing Ryan Dungey about half a lap before Stewart makes the pass to move into 1st place.

California - Yosemite in the Winter

California - Mono Lake

California - Death Valley

Japan - Disney Hidden Mickeys

I went to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea several times while I was in Japan. While there I was able to a couple Hidden Mickeys.

Tokyo Disneyland

Like in California Disneyland, there's a Mickey Head in one of the planets during the que for the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Outside of Buzz Lightyear there's a sculpture of the little green alien guys, on the back of the sculpture there's a Hidden Mickey.

Haunted Mansion

Tokyo DisneySea

In the Mermaid Lagoon area there are several Hidden Mickeys in the wall surrounding the King Triton statue.

Someone had made a Hidden Mickey in the dirt.

Hidden Poo Head

Hidden North America. I think the couple sitting on the bench was wondering why I was taking a photo of them.

Someone had formed a Hidden Mickey out of rope on one of the gondolas.

Japan - Tokyo Disneyland Food

Crab Meat Pizza at Tokyo Disneyland. Pretty good!

Japan - Hot Dog

I'm pretty brave about trying new and different food and I have eaten many strange things while traveling in Japan and Asia. But one thing that I saw a lot of, but was never brave enough to try were these strange hot dogs that you could find at the convenient stores. The must be popular because every convenient store has them. One part of what scares me about them is that they are not refrigerated, they're stored out on the shelves with the breads and other pastries.

Los Angeles - Halloween Pumpkins

Every year I like to carve a couple of pumpkins for Halloween, here's my two pumpkins from this year.

Los Angeles - My Halloween Costume

My Halloween Costume.

Los Angeles - Pumpkin Time Lapse

How to carve two Halloween pumpkins in 20 seconds. Actually this is a time lapse of me carving my Halloween pumpkins. In real time it took about 2 hours to clean and carve the two pumpkins.