Kanazawa Castle. These shots have been sitting in the archives since early last year, waiting for me to get around to writing it up here at Wayfarer Daves. Finally, it’s time to revisit the New Years 2017 grand adventure…
Hitting the Sasebo Slopes: Finding Kids on the Slope Film Locations
Recently Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon) came out in theaters and its not an understatement to say it’s been a big deal in Sasebo. The movie is about a trio of high school students who bond over their…
Remains of the past – Fujisawa Airfield
Mr. Krigbaum often writes about WWII ruins and the remains of wartime facilities down where he lives in Kyushu. Today, it is my turn to write about the remains of a wartime facility not far from where I live in…
Katashima Revisited
Though I published a story on the Katashima Torpedo Testing Facility last summer, I actually visited the site nearly a year before but due to work and other factors concerning interviews and research for the Homefront series its completion and…
Nagano Monkey Business
In my last article about a recent return to Matsushiro, that I was passing through Nagano on my way home from chasing monkeys in the nearby mountains. So today, we are going to take a break from the usual…
Climbing Big Mountain
It was a fine, fall Saturday – partly sunny skies, pleasant temperatures, and lingering fall colors. It was a great day for a hike, so I decided to head back to Oyama – literally Big Mountain in Japanese- a holy…
An exercise in film
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article (read it here, I’ll wait) about my experience shooting film for the first time in nearly 30 years. Today, I thought I would talk a bit about the challenges I’ve found…
A Series of Adventures at Summers End
As many of our regular readers know, Wayfarer Daves is two photographers named Dave who enjoy writing and travel. Regulars, or those who have read past articles, will also know that we each live on different Japanese islands with…
An Exercise in Heat Exhaustion and Dehydration in Odawara
Recently I found myself with a Saturday afternoon free, so I decided to head off to do some hiking around Yamakita, in western Kanagawa Prefecture. On the way, however, while changing trains in Kozu, I found a map of…
Osaka Castle: Home of Toyotomi
It is 1583. Oda Nobunaga has been assassinated, and Nobunga’s right hand man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, has avenged his death and is in the process of consolidating his own power. Of course, the aspiring ruler needed a palace worthy of…