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

How many more episodes? Where to next? And other thoughts...

After completing the eighth episode, I thought about what footage I have and how many episodes I can make of the rest of the footage from Japan. Surprisingly, I have enough, which I would assume lends me around 15-25 more episodes (2-5 minutes a piece).

Taiwan on the other hand... I'm not so sure what I will be able to pull from my tapes. Some of the camera movements are less than desirable and nauseating. I didn't document my trip as well compared to Japan. This would make me guess I might be able to pull together around 10 episodes total. For now, I'm ok with that. And won't be worrying about putting the Taiwan pieces together for a while.

Now, where to next? What is my next adventure?

(Aboard a train in Hokkaido, bound for Tokyo)

Considering I lack funds to go anywhere far, I'll probably do some episodes that would take place around the Pacific NW. I have already shot a few outings and will probably shoot some more.

When I began working on this project, I neglected to even consider my own backyard. Not only are people interested in International travel but shorter trips as well. Take for example someone who might be from San Fransisco and would like to know what there is to see in and around Portland...

The content for a show like this is nearly infinite.

With regards to International travel. I really really really want to go back to Sapporo; it was that awesome. But I am open to other destinations. I have friends in Europe and airfare to London or Frankfurt is much cheaper than to Tokyo, language wouldn't be much of a barrier, as well as cultural customs.

I'll have to make a top ten list sometime of places I want to go, of course, its always changing...