Kobe is for Beef. Sweet, Glorious, Expensive Beef

Kobe, Japan is an interesting city.  If you would drop me there without telling me where I was and no local signs or people walking around I would guess that I was in a place like London or Chicago - most definitely not Japan.  Hello Kitty and Cartoon figures are all but missing and replaced with upscale dining (mostly French and Italian), expensive stores (Dior, DG, etc), and English is almost always in a larger font than the comparable Kanji text for most big businesses.  It is so eerie and cosmopolitan that I caught myself on multiple occasions wondering if I was even in Japan anymore. 

There are really only three things that I could see coming to Kobe for.  The first is the most obvious, to live there.  Kobe constantly ranks the top city in Japan for expat living and there is no doubt of that after seeing the city.  For me, all the french restaurants and pastry shops (mostly the latter) have me wanting to move there already as well.  The second is as an entry and exit point into Japan via the nearby port of Kobe which has weekly ferries to and from Shanghai and Busan.  Since I am not able to be classified in the previous two, the reason I went to Kobe falls into category number 3:  Kobe Beef.

Travel Photo Guide Part 1 - Basic Concepts

Photography while traveling is probably one of the most important souvenirs you can bring back from your trip.  A lasting memory kept in a digital or print file will last a lifetime and be a constant reminder of the wonderful sites you have seen. If possessing great travel photos is a passion of yours, like it is mine, why would you allow yourself to return with something less than stellar for all the amazing places you have been?  An amazing place deserves to be recorded in an amazing picture, and anything less does not give the location the justice it deserves.

You don't need a fancy SLR camera to get amazing photographs.  Most point and shoot cameras only really need to be above 5 megapixels (MP) to capture the full beauty of the world.  Now there are pocket sized cameras that range all the way up to 14 MP in picture size, with included HD video.  A bit overkill if you ask me, but added features the camera's posses, other than picture size, is something that should be highly valued.  In order to take some pictures that absolutely wow your friends and family, as well as become a travel keepsake worthy of display, I've come up with a list of tips that I use while taking photographs abroad that have allowed me to obtain some wonderful shots.

Much Needed Beach Break to Ioujima

I'm not going to lie when I say that Nagasaki wasn't even close to being on my original itinerary.  After cutting out Mount Fiji due to the abnormal heat wave going on in Japan, I had a large gap in my itinerary before departing from Osaka to Shanghai on September 10th.  After three weeks of constant travel and 6-12+ hour days of exploring each city, there was one thing that I needed: a break, and not just any break, a beach.  Thanks to massive internet searching, and wikitravel, I found my spot.

Photo Essay: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Parks

"Imagine all the people, living life in peace" - John Lennon

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were completely destroyed in August 1945 by nuclear weaponry.  In what was once thought of as lost for 75 years before any life could be sustained, the cities quickly rebuilt and plants began to regrow shortly after their destruction, much to the amazement of the world.  Since then, both cities have dedicated the ground zero sites as Peace Parks in order to help abolish nuclear weaponry and bring about universal peace.  It is hard to describe the parks in words, which infuse a mix anguish at the events that have transpired, and hope for what could occur in the future.  Rather than discuss these sites to you how I experienced them, I believe a photos from each park would help convey the feeling of being in the two dedicated Peace Parks in Japan.

"C" May Be For Cookie, But "I" is Definitely For Ice Cream

Outside of Hiroshima, Japan at the island of Miyajima, I gave myself a goal: climb Mt Misen.  In order to encourage myself to hike the 90 minutes in blazing heat, I gave myself a reward to stay motivated.  If I could make it to the top I would head down to the nearby city of Iwakuni and treat myself to a massive load of ice cream at the famous 100 flavor ice cream shop in the town.  With ice cream as a motivator, I made the climb and attempted to get the sweet reward immediately after, and failed trying, quite miserably I might add.  But the story does not end there, because the following day, I tried again.

A Day Trip to Miyajima Island and Mount Misen

For most travelers, Hiroshima can be divided up into two main sites.  Inside the town itself, the major destination is Peace Park, the restored site of the first nuclear bomb explosion during warfare, now dedicated to world peace and the abolishing of nuclear weapons.  The bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, exploding at an altitude of about 1800 feet which virtually destroyed the city in an instant.  The most notable feature within the park is the skeletal remains of a large building that survived the initial impact a few hundred feet away from ground zero.  The park itself is beautiful (and entirely wifi free), however the history behind it and corresponding museum puts a somber mood on the entire area.  The second site requires a quick day trip outside of Hiroshima city, to the island of Miyajima, and brings about a much higher spirit.