Merry Christmas 2010

It's Christmas ! Hang up your socks cause Santa Danbo is coming to the town. Merry Christmas. Wish you have a fun Christmas and a joyful New Year.


Danbo got a lot of presents this year. :)

Showa Kinen Koen

Showa Kinen Koen is one of the nicest park I've ever seen in Japan. It's a little bit out of the way from the city but the nature is gorgeous. It is a perfect destination to watch the fall colors.

Autumn Colors

The Fall season is upon us. I brought my little Danbo with me around so he could enjoy the beauty of autumn. Danbo just love the colors of autumn. :)

The Road to Success

is currently under construction....

Odaiba Statue of Liberty

Back in April 1998, to celebrate and strengthen the France - Japan relationship, the original French Statue of Liberty was briefly put in Japan for one year. Due to its popularity, the Japanese decided to make the replica of French Statue of Liberty. The statue was completed in 22 December 2000.

Yamanashi Prefecture

Yamanashi Prefecture is one of the most popular tourist destination in Japan. Yamanashi Prefecture is rich in nature, surrounded by mountains and forests. Mount Fuji, Fuji Q Highland, Fuji Five Lakes, Minami Alps National Park are some of the famous places. For nature lover, this place feels like heaven. Clean air, refreshing breeze, forests, mountains, hot springs, parks, ranches, stylish towns among the natures, the natural surroundings are just breathtaking.

Happy Halloween

At this time of year, in the dark of the night, when the black cats are hissing and the werewolves are howling, strange ghosts, zombies, and Danbo the witch are out to bring you lots of thrill. Wish you a hell-y happy Halloween !

Eka + Fanny

Meet Eka and Fanny, the cute couple who just got married... last week ! That's right. Last week !!

Eka is one of my good friends since I was in university. We studied, played games, giggled, laughed, and doing fun stuffs together. When I heard about his wedding, I was sad that I couldn't attend his wedding in Jakarta.

I wished I could go...

However, instead of me coming to their wedding, they both decided to hop on a plane, fly here to Tokyo, and ask me to document their sweet escape in Tokyo. How could I say 'no' to them ?

These past few days, we walked around Tokyo from Shinjuku to Asakusa... from Odaiba to Disneyland, laughed together, shared stories, and took lots of memorable photos.

Miso Soup

Miso Soup is a traditional Japanese soup based on dashi. Miso soup is rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is also believed that miso soup helps prevent breast cancer because Miso Soup is rich in isoflavones, which are believed to help block out cells that can become cancerous. Sounds delicious and nutritious ? Let me show you how to make one.

Chiba Floral Museum

Chiba City is also known as the City of Flowers. The city holds flowers festival and gardening contest every year. There are lots of flower related places around Chiba, one of them is the Chiba Floral Museum ( 花の美術館 ). I visited the museum just before I moved to Tokyo from Chiba.

Bokeh

Bokeh (暈け or ボケ) is a a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image. It refers to those beautiful magical out-of-focus light, with different shapes and colors that you found in the background of many photos taken with large aperture ( such as f1.8 or larger ). Normal bokeh usually has a circle shaped like this one, but I've been playing around with my lens to create a love shaped one. ^^

Nicholai-do

Holy Resurrection Cathedral ( 復活大聖堂 ) is the main cathedral of the Japanese Orthodox Church. It is also known as Nicholai-do ( ニコライ堂 ), named after St. Nicholai Kasatkin who introduced Orthodox in Japan. The Cathedral was completed on 8 March 1891. Stumbled upon this church while I was walking down the Ochanomizu yesterday. It's a bit hidden among tall buildings.

Culture Japan Filming

Culture: Japan is a Japanese TV show directed by Danny Choo. He also appears as the presenter. The show covers Japanese Pop Culture and feature contents that folks in and outside of Japan would enjoy. Culture Japan will be broadcast every week on Tokyo MX TV in Japan and probably every two weeks on Animax Asia. I was invited by Danny to tag along with his filming yesterday as his camera man.

Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle (松本城) is one of the four castles designated as Japan National Treasures. Due to its black exterior, it is also known as Crow Castle (烏城). The other three castles are Himeji Castle, Inuyama castle and Hikone Castle.

FAQ: Diptych

Diptych. I just found out about the word yesterday. I don't even know how to pronounce it correctly. Diptych refers to a single image composed of two photos that fit together nicely. Above photo is one of the example of Diptych.

Pizza Hut Party

A few weeks ago, two of my friends moved to the new apartment. It's been our excuse tradition to do a house warming party whenever someone moving in to new residence. What's better than Pizza to celebrate it ?

Stephanie & Daniel Wedding

Meet Stephanie and Daniel, two sweet and loving souls, who invited me to their wonderful wedding in Indonesia. Stephanie is one of my good friends. I’ve known her since university. She’s a pretty, smart, and funny girl. A couple of weeks ago I received the news that she's getting married and she invited me to her wedding in Jakarta. Thank you Stephanie and Daniel for the honor to capture your beautiful wedding. I had a great time shooting your wedding.

Singapore Travel

I love traveling. Traveling for me is like a therapy when things get crazy. I always try to take lots of travel photos because the photos are making me happy. When you look at the photos, you can recall back your memories of that place and time. Remembering the time when you strolled down the street, remembering how good the foods were, remembering how you felt when you explored something new, remembering how beautiful what life had offered.

During my holiday, I went to Singapore again to meet old and new friends, explore new and interesting places, take silly photos, eat delicious food, and enjoy what Singapore has to offer. I was actually thinking of moving to Singapore but decided not to, because right now my passion lies here in Japan.

Here are some of my Singapore travel photos. Enjoy ! :)

Mount Fuji Climbing

Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m (12,388 feet). For many people, summer season means it is time to challenge themselves to climb Mount Fuji for whatever crazy or wild reasons they have. As for me, I love nature and I love taking photos. I don't think I need more reason to climb it.

Doraemon's Grave

Who doesn't know who Doraemon is ? Doraemon is a popular and long-running manga about a robotic cat who come from the future to help Nobi Nobita. Doraemon manga was created by the duo Fujiko Fujio. Fujiko Fujio is a pen name for Hiroshi Fujimoto ( Fujiko F. Fujio ) and Abiko Moto ( Fujiko Fujio A ). Doraemon was started in December 1969 by Fujimoto, and since then Doraemon has appeared in lots of mangas, magazines, and animation. Fujimoto is one of my favorite manga artists. Went to the grave today to pay my respects to Hiroshi Fujimoto.

Hiratsuka Tanabata

Tanabata is a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). According to the legend, the Milky Way separates the lover from each other, and only once a year they are allowed to meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It is believed that if that day is rainy, Orihime and Hikoboshi will not be able to see each other and must wait for another year, so people usually pray for good weather and make wishes for themselves.

Sanrio Puroland

Last Saturday I set off to the land of cuteness, Sanrio Puroland. I know some people who try to avoid this kind of a place, but I just know I should visit it at least once. :)

It's Your Special Day !

May 31st is a special day for one of my dearest friends, Eva. Eva is a very sweet and cool girl. She and I first met at university and we've been a good friend since then. We graduated at the same time, went our separate ways after that, and then we met again in Japan. We laughed together, had fun traveling together, went snowboarding together, and took some silly photos together. It is sad that she is no longer in Japan now. Even though we're far away from each other, she's still my best friend.

Guts Soul - Koenji

Guts Soul is known among people as the super cheap Yakiniku Tabe Houdai (All-You-Can-Eat) restaurant. It means you can sit down and eat Yakiniku as much as you want. Sounds like heaven for meat lovers.

Hitsujiyama Park - Chichibu

Japan offers lots of flowers to enjoy in spring. Although Sakura season is over, the Shibazakura (Moss Pink or Phlox Subulata) season is at its peak. Hitsujiyama Park is one of the most popular Shibazakura viewing spots in Japan. For people who like flowers, this area is a must see.

Spring 2010

There is always something really nice about spring. After having a cold winter for a few months, the warm feeling of spring has been a pleasant one. Not to mention the weather on weekends were perfect. Have a look at my flower hunting's photos during the last few weeks.

Tokyo Sweet Escape

Last week was a little bit special for me. I had a chance to become Han and Waiyu's photographer. What's a better time for a couple to visit Tokyo than Sakura season? During their little sweet escape to Tokyo, I was lucky enough to be able to capture a part of their life.

The Season That I've Been Waiting For

I hope I'm not the only who is so excited to see Sakura. ;)

1 Year Ago...

Today for me was just a normal day. While I was in train heading back home, I was thinking about what I should write for my blog. That's when I realized something.

Singapore Photoshoot with Kodomut and Yukito

I have been wanting to do photoshoot together with Kodomut after finding out about his cool photos' of Drossel. I was amazed by his passion for figure photography and mushroom. You can immediately feel his passion throughout his blog.

Kodomut, Yukito, and I met online a couple months before. While I was in Singapore, we finally had the chance to meet offline under the blazing heat of Singapore's sun.

Singapore Trip

Hot hot hot ! That was the first few words that came out from my mouth when I set foot in Singapore. Few weeks before, I had a very strong impulse to meet a very dear friend of mine in Singapore. Without thinking too much, I decided to go to Singapore. I packed my bag and went to Singapore for a three days trip.

Tokyo CGM Night 7

Tokyo CGM Night 7 was held last Saturday night at the Akiba:F. Tokyo CGM Night is a monthly event organized by Danny Choo together with Andrew Shuttleworth. It is a great place to network with people in blogging community.

Happy Chinese New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai ! Happy Chinese New Year everyone !
Usually I would spend Chinese New Year with my family in Indonesia. This year I celebrate it in Japan together with Danbo, Mini and the tigers. Wanted to eat out today but I am not feeling well since this morning, so I am taking a rest while enjoying my little friends' performance.

Mirai-chan Curry

Having fun at CGM Night today. I was able to taste Mirai-chan Curry for the first time. Mirai-chan Curry is a collaboration between Danny Choo with the Max Factory Indian restaurant Indotei. It's a sweet curry with half-boiled egg and cheese on top.

Wonder Festival 2010 Winter Coverage

I was having a great time at Wonder Festival 2010 in Makuhari Messe yesterday. Here are the rest of Wonder Festival 2010's photos.

Wonder Festival Winter 2010 Cosplayers

Wonder Festival Winter 2010 is here ! Wonder Festival is the largest annual event displaying and selling garage kit and figures of anime, mecha, and game characters. It is a place where lots of high quality cosplayers gathered.

Hakuba Goryu

Another snowy photoshoot for you. As I mentioned in the previous post, Hakuba (白馬) is one of the ski resorts in Japan and there are seven main ski areas in Hakuba. This time I went to Hakuba Goryu (白馬五竜).

Tweetering !

Dear readers, Danbo has recently got infected with Twitter disease. Unfortunately, no cure has been found. Let's hope my phone bill doesn't increase a lot.

Follow me and Danbo on twitter !

2009

2009 has been a great year for me. Lots of things, good and bad, have happened since I picked up photography and started blogging. Quite awesome I would say. Through this blog, I've met lots of fantastic people.

Let's go through the highlights of 2009.

Pizza Salvatore

New Year is celebrated in different manners around the world. To celebrate the beginning of the new year, my friends & I went out to have a pizza party.

Hakuba Iwatake

Hakuba (白馬) is one of the ski resorts in Japan. It is located in the Northern Japan Alps. There are seven main ski areas in Hakuba: Goryu, Hakuba 47, Happo-one, Highland Snowpark, Iwatake, Minekata, and Sanosaka. You can get more information here.
On the very last few days of 2009, I was in Hakuba Iwatake enjoying the winter sport.