In all the years I lived in Japan, I never made it to the southern island of Kyushu. On my return trip this year, it’s where my journey began – in the southernmost prefecture of Kagoshima.
If for any reason you can’t see it on YouTube, the video is also available on Vimeo.
(Filmed on a Nikon D800, using a 50mm f1.4 and a 14-24mm f2.8.)
My two-week Japan Rail Pass having kicked in, it was time to start some serious travelling. First stop: Nagasaki!
I was recently asked to explain where I’d visited in Japan using Game of Thrones as a rough geographical guide. I replied that if Tokyo were King’s Landing, then where Colin and Kim now live is the blazing south of Dorne, and my former home of Akita would be the frozen plains of Winterfell. Never was this more apparent than when we paid a visit to the Fukiagehama Sand Art Festival: rather in contrast to the snow festival I’d seen whilst living in the north.
The plan had been to drive up to Miyazaki on the east coast but, as we set out on the road that morning and the skies became increasingly dismal and torrential, we decided it might be an idea to stay slightly closer to home rather than suffer an 8-hour round trip to stand outside in the rain.
The next morning, Kim dropped Colin and me off at the Flower Park Kagoshima, with her final day of work ahead before the Golden Week holidays began.
I’ve recently returned from a month of travelling across Japan, and now that I’ve recovered from the jet lag (and, more pertinently, caught up with all the work I was avoiding while I was out there) can finally start sharing the photos!
