Aizu: sneak peak

Located in south Fukushima is the city of Aizu. It's a wonderful city that has rich samurai history. I went there this past summer with my sister and brother in-law, to explore what it had to offer.

Before taking the trip up north, I sat down to read about Aizu. Luckily, it was impossible to find any information about it. It's off the beaten path and the likely hood you'll find other western tourists is extremely low.

I first heard about Aizu through one of my schools. I wrote the name down, since it's close and has a castle. As time passed, I slowly forgot about it until my sister mentioned she was coming to visit this past summer. Due to it's proximity to where I live, I put it on the itinerary.

At the moment, I won't go into great details about the city, since I am still working on a video for it. If you happen to read this and are unsure to visit, just go! There is a bus line that loops around the city and costs 500yen the whole day. There is a tourist booth at the train station that can point you in any direction. From Tokyo you can take the train or access via JR bus lines in Shinjuku. It's one of the best sites I have seen in Japan and I have seen quite a few.

9 out of 10 katanas

Next Stop Gyeongju

Every time I complete an episode, I feel a small sense of accomplishment.  It might be big or small but it's always there.  After that feeling of pride wipes away, I am left with the next challenge.  Which is the next video?  

Mentally, I keep a checklist of what I want to work on next.  Sometimes, starting a new video is a huge chore.  There might be little visuals to work with and creating a narrative might feel impossible.   I'm in luck this time.  

For the Gyeongju episode, I found that I have nearly twenty five minutes of footage to use.  This is not normally how much I have for a single video.  I'm lucky if I have ten minutes.  

Right now, I'm sifting through what is useable and what isn't.  I'll be aiming to get this episode down to around five minutes.  That's the goal for now.  If I can keep it around seven minutes, I'll be happy.  There might be more I'm willing to hold onto.  

Gyeongju was one of my favorite places I visited in Korea last year.  It's a quite historic city that's off the east coast of Korea.  Generally, it doesn't snow much there.  On this occasion it did.  This was something most Koreans living in the area never see.  Not only did I get to see a historically rich city but I was able to see it caked in snow.  

Anyway, final cut awaits!  I hope to see you next week!