Japan | Travel + Photo | A blog by Nathan Busscher

Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category

Numazu – Senbonhama Triathlon

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

We travelled down to Shizuoka last week for Miki’s first triathlon… The Senbonhama Triathlon. I tagged along and took pictures again. With all the various races that Miki does I think I’m getting pretty good at photography sports. I usually bring two cameras. One with a medium zoom and one with a long telephoto. This time I did things a little different in that the camera with the medium zoom lens was on a short tripod and took video while I was shooting her with the telephoto. I strapped the camera taking video to railing, a flag pole and balanced on a top of cone to get some video while I was taking still photos. Maybe next time I’ll hire an assistant to help get some better video for Miki’s next race.

As usual, I put together a video slideshow of the days events. Enjoy…

She ended up placing second in her age group. Pretty impressive since it was her first traithlon!!

[View with PicLens]

Tags: Photography, race, Travel, zoo
Posted in Japan, Photography, Sports, Travel, Video | 1 Comment »

Sumo Training

Monday, April 12th, 2010

One of the favorite things I like to do when friends to Japan for the first time is try to get into a Sumo training session. So, when a friend of mine from the States came into Tokyo earlier this year for visit, I knew exactly what to do. The problem is that getting into one is hit or miss. You can’t make a reservation. It’s not part of any tour. It’s not in any guidebooks (that I know of).

You can call ahead to see if they are going to be around but there is a chance they won’t let you in when you arrive. The only way to find out is to show up. You need to speak Japanese or have someone with you that can. You also need to bring a gift (some sweets are usually best) as a token of appreciation for letting you watch them practice.

If you do get in then you are in store for an very unique experience. Enjoy the video slide show of our recent visit.

Check out more pictures here

http://www.busscher.us/holiday/sumo_training/

Tags: Photography, Travel
Posted in Japan, Travel, Video | 1 Comment »

Jigokudani Monkey Park

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Snow Monkey

We went to the Jigokudani Monkey Park near Nagano Japan earlier this winter. Just getting around to going through the pictures now They are definitely fun to watch and its worth the side trip if you are near Nagano. More information about the park and how to get there at http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6028.html. Don’t forget to pose for the camera which takes a picture once an hour on the hour and posts it online.