Zach in Japan

関西と家族

2012-02-02T14:56:00.004+09:00

大阪と家族

2012-01-29T14:44:00.000+09:00

草津温泉

2011-11-13T14:48:00.000+09:00

長野結婚式

2011-11-10T20:23:00.000+09:00

東京

2011-11-08T21:19:00.007+09:00

新宿

2011-11-03T16:59:00.002+09:00

ハロウィーン

2011-10-31T22:21:00.000+09:00

原宿

2011-10-27T19:39:00.005+09:00

渋谷

2011-10-22T17:58:00.000+09:00

秋葉原

2011-10-17T15:47:00.001+09:00

外と中

2011-10-08T21:07:00.001+09:00

大阪城

2011-09-10T22:47:00.000+09:00

道具屋筋

2011-08-17T14:09:00.000+09:00

浴衣

2011-08-07T12:31:00.000+09:00

花鳥園

2011-07-17T22:57:00.000+09:00

兵庫

2011-07-15T19:51:00.000+09:00

生活

2011-07-08T23:24:00.000+09:00

大阪ステーションシティ

2011-07-06T16:21:00.001+09:00

結婚式

2011-06-05T09:04:00.000+09:00

植物館

2011-05-15T10:29:00.000+09:00

先斗町

2011-05-10T19:42:00.001+09:00

髭

2011-04-24T06:27:00.001+09:00

万博

2011-04-18T21:19:00.001+09:00

梅田

2011-04-15T06:42:00.004+09:00

日本橋

2011-04-10T16:02:00.005+09:00

新世界

2011-04-05T23:29:00.005+09:00

鶴橋

2011-04-01T19:24:00.006+09:00

大阪南

2011-03-28T19:16:00.004+09:00

Camera Leftovers

2011-03-23T21:01:00.005+09:00

Eel spine!

Eel liver soup!

Konatsu

Kentucky

Tokyo Metropolitan Offices

Awajishima

The Odaiba Statue of Liberty

And with this collection of photos, I say goodbye to my Olympus Camera, which has been replaced by a fancy new, used Canon SLR.

Cheap Camera ¥１万

2011-03-22T18:12:00.004+09:00

I've had four great years of shooting and it's time to say goodbye to my Olympus SP56OUZ . This camera was over ¥60,000 new, the Amazon list price used is ¥25,000, I'm selling the camera for ¥10,000.

Act now and not only will you walk home with this beautiful 8 megapixel, 18x optical zoom, wonder of engineering, but I'll throw in a Lo-pro camera bag, a usb connector cable, and a 1Gig memory card (that's one billion bits of memory, wow!)

"But Zach, what will I set my camera on?"

I am glad you asked, I'm also gonna throw in a shiny (yes, I said shiny!) blue tripod with not one, not two, but three legs for stability triangulation. That's just physics my friend.

This camera has a lens much bigger than pocket shooters and iphones and that gives a much better quality of image.

"But zach, I can get a 12 megapixel phone the size of a credit card."

You can put however many pixels on a tiny lens you want, you're just gonna have great resolution on a lousy image. Bigger is better!

Do you want to do HDR photography? This camera has Auto-bracketing!

The camera is in good shape with no noticeable body damage, there is a scratch on the LCD screen but there are no scratches on the lens. There is one slight imperfection (see included image) on the lens that doesn't show up in the photos. Of course, I encourage you to try it before you buy it. No manual included. Here are non-photoshopped pictures I took with the camera. Wowie Zowie!

The depth of field is uncanny!

Night action BLAMMO!

Landscapes! It's like I'm really there!

Macro mode too! Tiny things made huge!

Dark bar craziness! So crisp!

Sweet Mamacita! Girls love getting their picture taken!

The Wakayama Rules of Engagement

2010-12-31T20:22:00.010+09:00

Wakayama castle

Yakitori in a restaurant that used to be a bus! Legendary Yakuza actor Riki Takeuchi sings at an international boxing championship on the bus tv.

I loved this ridiculous beard but I decided to shave it for what was to come.

Shirahama. After seeing the famous Engetsuto rock we went to a beach onsen that is right on the sea. At high tide you can be sitting in hot water and get hit in the face with a wave.

Seigan Toji

There's a trio of Onsen towns within a few kilometers of each other. Watarase, Kawayu and Yunomine. All are excellent and were well worth relaxing in for a few days. Most have private onsens reservable for families and couples.

Come sit in an onsen in the middle of a river, in the middle of the mountains. It's open to the public and surrounding hotels offer water kimonos for the ladies. Most guys just lie around naked.

Miku spent a good deal of the vacation lying around in her hotel yukata playing pokemon. Me too.

she thought I was joking at first but eventually said "yes".

The Beard of Santa

2010-12-23T23:08:00.003+09:00

Step one. Vasoline around the beard to protect that skin and snorkel up to avoid bleach fumes. Warning snorkel will also become drool spout. This burned but much less than expected. Good work Gatsby Hi-Ex over-the-counter hair bleach!

THOR!

Step two, Gatsby silver-white hair dye for that Santa shine. Why is it slowly turning pink?

Step what happened? It looks like a cross between that purply color old ladies like to dye their hair and the dregs at the bottom of your cup ramen. I'm gonna watch a really scary movie and hope that turns my hair white.

忍者

2010-12-15T19:02:00.000+09:00

八九三

2010-12-11T18:18:00.008+09:00

photographs by Mark of the Weich-gumi, photoshop work by ore-sama

Ha '10 ween

2010-10-31T09:54:00.008+09:00

Pokemon Trainer Miku

At one point four Japanese maids sang the Mario theme to Kwame, all four minutes of it.

Shoot now Mega Man!

The back of Rodney's ninja costume

Osaka Castle

Pirates Under the Sun

2010-10-11T07:57:00.007+09:00

Midosuji Gourmet Festival

Forget air guitar. Air taiko.

I was able to cram 20 jumbo grapes in there

Camping at Biwa-ko

Obon in Shinshu

2010-08-19T18:02:00.009+09:00

Sanryo Puro Land in Tokyo

Miku's "Awesome Shoes" Version 2.0

Even the Emperor has a pool table at the Imperial Villa

This is my fourth trip to Nikko and it still holds up as my favorite place on Earth

Wasabi Beer

Wasabi juice

Ryan only wore Uniqlo mosaic leggings to Karaoke because he thought Ian was bringing his wrestling shirts again.

One of the hardest hikes of my whole life and I did it in Crocs. They worked wonderfully.

Shirahama, The Relocated Australian Beach

2010-08-19T17:45:00.005+09:00

TP - Those Pirates

2010-07-01T08:04:00.001+09:00

Sleeplessness in Seattle

2010-06-26T07:42:00.005+09:00

Se-at'll do pig

Those are coffees from the world's first established Starbucks

Freemont Festival

The extreme liberal side of Seattle

And the extreme conservative side

Steve's wedding to Anne brought all the Strickland siblings together

The Onions, Cows, Loquats and Octopi of Awajishima

2010-05-05T21:27:00.007+09:00

Akashi castle, on the Kansai side of the world's longest suspension bridge connecting the Japanese mainland to Awajishima Island

Tako Ferry

Tako Toilet

Tako Shrine

Tako Tobacco Termination

Octopus traps

Just because you banged your head Miku doesn't mean I'm not going to snap the photo

A bag of eight farm-fresh onions for ¥100!

And the bovine photoshop award goes to . . .

An adorable Japanese two-year-old was trying to feed the cows two strands of hay sayins, "doozo, doozo" When the cow reached for the kid's hay, the kid recoiled in fear. A few moments later he would try again and again run away. After four attempts the kid dropped the hay and then offered his hat "doozo."

The farm had all-you-can-drink milk free!

春

2010-05-05T21:12:00.004+09:00

Annual Loli Hanami

Tokyo Science Museum

I had long dreamed of throwing someone through a shoji screen. Rodney helped that dream become a reality

Mr. Kurihara's retirement party degrades into a Zach balooning party

Katakuri, a rare mountain wildflower

Kung Phu Philippines pt. 2 The Training

2010-03-27T17:01:00.005+09:00

Am I the reincarnation of Wing Chun master Ip Man?

Sifu Bennie Casas' Arnis and Wing Chun school

Sifu Fidel Cunanan's Red Dragon Tae Kwon Do and Wing Chun school

Demonstration for the high schoolers

During the demonstration everyone was introduced by name. Rob - moderate clapping, Allison - moderate clapping, Zach - Moderate clapping, Yasu (far right) - screaming and cheers!?

This girl is a young Tae Kwon Do champion and kicks hard, I spent a good while practicing with her the techniques of taking me down which put bruises on the backs of my knees.

Sifu Bennie's school has a weekly program where poor kids from up in the mountains are brought down for a free Wing Chun class followed by a hot meal and a bible school class organized by the local church. Ultimately the goal of the school is to train up a few of the kids to be really good so they can take the roles of teachers and leaders within the school and help expand Wing Chun and the feeding program and have better future employment options.

Sifu Steve McGowan, Sifu Bennie Casas and the Philipines Wing Chun students

Kung Phu Philippines pt. 1 The Country

2010-03-22T16:09:00.014+09:00

This noisy beastie could snap his head against his tough carapace

Nothing stands between Sanjay and his Bunko Pie

Yasu the dog meets Yasu the Dawg

The Guardian of the Villa

Watermelon-sized Jackfruit

This guy was above my bed and was about the size of my pinky fingernail

Yoda sidecar!

Computer Assisted Creations

2010-03-10T23:00:00.001+09:00

Sapporo

Dentists

Otaru

Chakra

Kobe Noir

2010-03-04T21:01:00.010+09:00

KFT

2010-02-19T18:17:00.006+09:00

matching the monkey

gyoza of all sizes

The Osaka Chapter of Kung Fu Tuesday is approaching it's second year anniversary. KFT has been going on since summer of 2005 with Chapters in Osaka, Nagano, Denver, and the newest Tokyo Chapter will be starting up soon with Kate's relocation. Osss!

New Cars and No Racequeens

2010-02-12T21:21:00.000+09:00

For some reason the only racequeens at the 2009 Osaka car show were onstage far from the cars. Otaku lined up to photograph them as the announcer gave a play by play of the girls "cute" poses.

Japan's Presidential Port

2010-02-07T20:48:00.003+09:00

According to the sign, I'm Higashi Obama

canned bread

Sapporohmanthatfoodisgood

2010-01-24T15:40:00.002+09:00

and then Boba Fett took me to Jabba

free bags of sand at corner stations for ice traction. Miku took a bag home and gave it to her mother

Aaaaah! Youkai!

Ju-on't want to go without drinking Sapporo!

Christmas Evening, Miku and I celebrated Japanese style and ate Christmas cake fresh from the Lawson's. It was a big cake but we didn't want to waste any and had free breakfast coupons for the next morning so we each ate half a cake. We stayed our first night in Sapporo at an internet cafe, they had a private room priced the same per person as a chair so we stocked it with free blankets and all-you-can-eat corn soup and all-you-can-drink Mountain Dew and watched my family open Christmas presents over the webcam.

Breakfast was had at an Onigiri restaurant that looked as if it had been built in the fifties with a fifties-era science fiction decoration scheme. I had a cheese and katsuo fish flake onigiri rice triangle wrapped in nori and just about fell off of my red pleather and chrome stool. The most delicious Onigiri I have ever eaten was the size of my fist and punched my tastebuds right in the mouth.

The food just got better.

At the Sapporo Beer Factory we toured Japan's oldest Brewery and then ate Hokkaido-style Jingisu Kaan (Ghengis Khan). Which is all-you-can-eat strips of lamb meat cooked over a griddle shaped like Hokkaido and then dipped in sauce.

Sapporo beer samples were good, and okay, and bad, and good too.

Our last night in Hokkaido was spent at a cheap capsule hotel/spa where I had a whole bank of 20 capsules to myself.

Can't Think of a Clever Hakkodate Post Title

2010-01-11T13:19:00.004+09:00

Squid ink ice cream is inky

Rumiko Takahashi manga artist showcase at the Hakkodate Art Museum

Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura

Coin operated hotel TV, 1 yen per minute

Seafood Donbori soo good. Breakfast best. Delicious memory. Sentence forming difficult. Mmmmm.

Craning Necks

2010-01-08T16:33:00.003+09:00

Hokkaido isn't much like the rest of Japan. The locals were much more casual. Gum-chewing and sleeping employees surprised not only me but Miku as well. Also, there were more Chinese tourists everywhere than even Japanese locals. Trains and buses are much more irregular and the island is enormous so, unless you are interested only in sticking to the big cities, not having a car can be a serious inconvenience.

I was eager to see the huge, red-crested cranes, famous from much of Japanese art. We made it out to the Crane preserve but the lack of transportational possibilites burned us down to one stop in the park and several hours of waiting, just to head back to central Hokkaido without further park exploration.

The cranes were impressive and did their mating displays and crane caws for us. Hawks were plentiful as well and spent their time harassing the cranes and looking for chicks to eat.

There were so many birds of prey they should call it Hawkkaido.

On a Boat to Hokkaido

2010-01-06T14:28:00.002+09:00

22 hours from Northern Kyoto to Otaru, Hokkaido by ferry

view outside the hotel

view inside the hotel

Pirates 2009

2010-01-04T10:30:00.000+09:00

Strickland Christmas Photoshop

2009-12-30T18:05:00.000+09:00

Zach Meets Billy Blanks

2009-11-27T19:05:00.003+09:00

His international studio is about 2 minutes from my apartment. I happened accross a Tae Bo demonstration and volunteered when he wanted audience participation. It was sweaty.

Loli's at Sunset

2009-11-19T21:51:00.001+09:00

Live with Tomiizu Ken

2009-11-14T21:45:00.003+09:00

Idol Asami Abe

Half of the duo Beefcake

The star Tomiizu Ken

Tomiizu cell phone cleaner

The poster for our play "The Beard Shaving Daughter"

Yoshimoto is the biggest comedy entertainment company in Japan boasting the majority of Japan's on air comedy talent. They invited three of us Pirates to be extras in one of their plays. Honestly, I didn't know who any of the people in the play were but with some internet searching and inquiries to my friends I learned that the star Tomiizu Ken, is quite famous and has been doing comedy for over 25 years. Some of his stuff on youtube is quite funny though unfortunately un-subbed. The second lead was Abe Asami, a semi-famous idol/pop singer/model/TV and movie actress. Rob was hitting on her quite a bit without realizing this fact and asked her if acting was her hobby and if she liked karaoke. I checked and she has eight songs in the karaoke book at Jankara and was in a Kamen Rider movie. She is also the sister of a member super-group Morning Musume.

For our part we got to sing Bon Jovi on stage while wearing giant "foreigner" name tags. The gag of the play is that people get their giant name tags mixed up and become that character. Oh look, Ken is wearing a schoolgirl uniform! Wakka wakka. Chaka, Rob and I were on stage for about 3 minutes of the the 90 minute play and then we came out after the show for curtain call. Ken and the others were wonderful enough to plug The Pirates of the Dotombori after the shows.

Every night they changed the play a little bit. One night we were singing Beetles with the "Don't Pirate Movies" guy in the theater ads, another night I was singing dressed as a Ghostbuster and Rob as a Robot. They had different surprise guest comedians every night as well, though I don't know who they were.

After the shows, drinking with Yoshimoto comedians was remarkably fun. It's great to see people telling really boring stories in outrageous, over the top, slapstick ways. One guy said, "Every night I go home, drink a beer, then go to bed." This sentence took five hilarious minutes.

Four nights of shows, maybe 1200 people (98% of them were female) fans waiting outside of the theater afterwards. It was a good experience, and awesome to be paid to do it.

Cops on Halloween... Again

2009-11-01T19:04:00.005+09:00

count em up

America from Hetalia

Kate beats drunk strangers with a riding crop

he had real vegetables

Demolition Man better watch out

as happy as a robot in a bunny pack

Too many people at the park standing around in costumes, time for police action

This and That

2009-10-24T08:01:00.000+09:00

Whole barbecued quail on a stick

Sumo training food, Chanko nabe at Sumo legend Wakanohana's restaurant

The Comedy Cabin

2009-10-18T07:42:00.007+09:00

Three days in Biwako. Kayaking, stick cup, box wine, Rodney's boardgame, barbecue, chess, prank phone calls. and lots of jokes.

Zach on TV

2009-10-09T20:07:00.006+09:00

The comedians are the manzai duos of "Non-Style" and "Tutorial"