I interviewed friends and family about their experiences living during the pandemic in Tokyo during the first half of 2020.
LWIF EP148: Tokyo by Bike
How about a bike around Tokyo… all of it. I go on a 120km trip from the Eastern banks of the Edogawa river to the Western banks of the Tamagawa river. I did a similar journey by train four years ago.
LWIF EP147: Tokyo’s Coronavirus Timeline (COVID-19 in Japan | Jan 16 – May 25, 2020)
A timeline of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Tokyo, Japan: from the first case to the end of the state of emergency.
LWIF EP138: What Traditionally Making Japanese Knives is Like
Over 700 years ago, a katana master from Kyoto was searching for the perfect place to make katanas, found that Echizen had the best water and ingredients, and set up shop. Nowadays the most sought after blades in the city are chef knives. See how they’re made when we visit Ryusen Hamono, which hand makes the knives that are a Japanese traditional craft. Thanks to Ryusen Hamono for letting me film. What are traditional crafts like where you’re from?
LWIF EP137: How Japan’s North is Like Canada… But Not
I finally went to Japan’s Northernmost prefecture: Hokkaido. As the plane was descending, I thought to myself, huh, this looks a bit like Canada. Thanks to the following for providing for my family’s travel, accommodations, and food.
LWIF EP136: Why Japan Isn’t Cutting Down Enough of its Trees
Visit https://teamtrees.org and lets get some trees planted! #teamtrees I started off making this nice video about how Japan got its forests back through afforestation. Then I did too much researching on the Internet and came to the conclusion that Japan should be chopping down some of its trees. Trust me, it’ll all make sense once you watch the video… I hope.
LWIF EP135: Japan: Where Gods Aren’t Gods and Worshipers Aren’t Religious
Have you ever wondered about all the gates (torii) you see around Japan? They are entrances to the sacred ground of Shinto shrines (jinja). While some might see Japan’s traditional practices of Shinto as a religion, and their various kami as gods, it’s not quite as simple as that. Special thanks to David Chart for explaining the ins and outs of Shinto. Find out more about Shinto on his blog at https://www.mimusubi.com/ and support his writing on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/mimusubi.
LWIF EP134: Trying to Eat ALL of Japan’s Frozen Treats
I wanted to show all the variety of Japanese ice cream and other frozen desserts that you can get at the supermarket. Unfortunately, I’m bad at math, and didn’t comprehend that eating 53 treats would take a long time to do, but it would also make a LONG video. After many failed attempts at shortening this beast of a project, it’s still just shy of 50 minutes long. For all you frozen treat lovers, I hope you enjoy the dedication. My waistline sure did!
LWIF EP133: Japan’s Public Housing for the Middle Class
Ever since I moved to Japan six years ago I’ve had an interest in danchi, which are the housing complexes built by Japanese government agencies in the late 1950’s. In this video I tour some of the original restored units as well as their modern counterparts.
LWIF EP132: It’s More Fun in the Philippines | A Tourist’s Perspective
For this final video in my series on life in the Philippines I talked about my experience as a tourist, both the beautiful scenery I saw, and visitor vs. local pricing. If you’re taking a vacation to the Philippines, I hope you’ll find my trip a tiny bit enlightening.