More Photo Snobbing

Hey guys.

I always hear that taking photos of food is tacky.

You know what I think is more tacky?
Three things:
1. Taking multiple pictures of the same thing at angles that aren't really different, and uploading ALL of them.
2. Taking pics of a random space in a landscape.
3. Assuming the DSLR takes good pictures automatically and letting it do all the work for you. Hey guys, there's a reason the DSLR has all those settings and also why we have software like Photoshop and Light Room.

I'm not a master photographer myself, but I must say I think I've learned from mistakes and have grown all these years...

^Click to view my Flickr photostream^
In it are pics from the Yakushima trip, as well as Japan escapades to date.

Yakushima

This past weekend was a trip to Yakushima (pics to come a bit later).

Our party of seven left Sasebo at Saturday, 130am. 3.5 hours and a 6700 yen toll later, we reached Kagoshima. 4 hours on a ferry later, we reached Yakushima. The island was filled with lush forests, beautiful mountain hike trails, and many beach-side onsen, which was best used at night under the stars.
Yakushima has the forest that the famous Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away was based off of. Unfortunately we didn't visit it. Yakushima also houses the oldest tree in Japan, if not the world. Unfortunately, we didn't visit that either. What does that mean?
2 days is not enough to fully enjoy Yakushima. I'd say 4 days at the minimum.
What else am I trying to say? Another visit will be happening in the future.

In the meantime, it's time to prepare for Mt. Fuji this coming weekend. Oh I love being fat with no stamina. =P

Whirlwind July

This past weekend was pretty crazy.
Last Friday was Mutia's Farewell Party in Hasami. Had to miss out on Fiona's Farewell Party in Hirado, but it's alright because there was another dinner just last night.
So at Mutia's, met up with a lot of good folks, including my fellow Hasians (the Asian JETs of our area) which I don't see often. The party involved a small 食べ飲み放題 and a lot of pseudo-model pictures involving various parts of the cafe (as seen on my Flickr).

Such as this one by Qi.


And this one of Gen.


Met new friends, and hung out with friends I had only met once before. Then had a blast in karaoke afterwards. 90% of parties where Ray is present usually end in karaoke! =)

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The next day was the Water Park / Beer Garden Party for leaving JETs.
Didn't feel like going to the water park in the rain, so Sho and I decided to watch movies at the theater until the Beer Garden dinner started. We watched Predators first, then Gen joined us to watch Toy Story 3. Both movies were awesome and worth the money spent.

Beer Garden was funtimes. I didn't want to drink at first because I had driven to Sasebo and was worried about where to leave my car (it's illegal to drive in Japan even if you have .01% alcohol in your blood). But, after some peer pressure and sorting out of where I would be able to crash for the night, drinking started. After all, it'd be bad to let a 食べ飲み放題 go to waste like that.
After-party was at a small bar called Greedy, which led to more alcohol-induced hilarity, including a happy Gen proclaiming that she had made out with just about every female JET present.

The night was spent crashed in Kawatana at Kim's.
'Twas a fun weekend. I love my placement.