GI: Japan Episode 5 - Sado Holiday

こんにちは!

I'm back with non-stop riveting video action from the land of the rising sun. This time, you get to see footage from outside Niigata!

Marine Day or "Umi no Hi" is a (fairly new) national holiday in Japan that celebrates the ocean and its important role in Japanese society. Since I was lucky enough to have the day off, I set off on an adventure to Sado Island with our lovely guest star, Rumi. Sado is a short(ish) ferry ride north of Niigata. You can get there in a flash if you're willing to pay extra, but we decided to go with the cheaper option, which took about three hours. It didn't end up feeling very long, because I managed to take a solid nap on the way there and back. Rumi's friend, Taketo-san, grew up on Sado and graciously volunteered to act as our tour guide once we reached the island. I really can't imagine tackling Sado as a lone tourist, since everything is so spread out and driving is the best way to see it all. Basically, we were extremely lucky to have some help! 

In the video below, I've pieced together parts of the day using a combination of the YouTube editor and Sony Movie Studio. I really wish that I could produce much fancier material right now, but my camera is subpar to begin with and my computer regularly sounds like it is going to jet off into outerspace. Hopefully you can all still appreciate Sado for its beautiful and peaceful environment. Weirdly enough, my brain couldn't stop making connections to video games as we travelled throughout the island. Some of my comparisons might seem like a bit of a stretch, but since it's my imagination (and my blog!), I'll do as I please.

If you have any questions about the different spots we visited, feel free to ask in the comments. Also, I'm sad to report that my cat friendship couldn't make it all the way. Long-distance relationships are just too hard :P 

またね,
-Girl Informer

GI: Japan Episode 4 - Vintage toys and lots of noise

こんにちは! 

I've got a few more quick videos for all of you. First, my inner dork had a minor freakout over all of the cool toys being housed at Niigata's Manga Animation Museum. While the actual museum was closed at the time we stopped by, I was still able to gawk at all of these goodies. Feel free to take pleasure from my nerdiness :) 

Second, I've got an unexpected video of some good old fashioned fireworks (let's call it a belated Fourth of July homage). A few weeks ago, I visited Bandaibashi - a famous bridge in Niigata. It's a fantastic local spot and luckily some sort of event also made things very festive.

Next weekend, I'm actually headed to Yokohama for a music festival. I'm ridiculously excited and can't wait to share the experience with everyone soon. 

またね,
-Girl Informer

GI: Japan Episode 3 - Good health, good fortune... good marriage?

こんにちは!

Things have been plenty busy on my side of the world, but I've still got lots of video to share. We've even got a special guest this time around - my friend Rumi! The two of us ventured to a local shrine in Hakusan and took advantage of the beautiful scenery. It was actually really relaxing to be in such a calm and peaceful environment compared to the hustle and bustle of my daily commute.

I didn't get the chance to show off this area, but the lotus pond was amazing. So many flowers were just itching to bloom! 

It was a little difficult to find information on this purification ritual online, but you can check out this blog for more details. Here's hoping it will bring good health and fortune to my life (and those around me!) for the rest of the year :) 

Last but not least, I tried my absolute best to get this routine down correctly. Hopefully I paid my respects well enough. Hakusan Jinja (Shrine) is home to the god of marriage, after all :P

Make sure to keep an eye out for more videos!

またね,
-Girl Informer

GI: Japan Episode 2 - The daily grind

Hello again friends! 

I'm excited to share two more video installments for my GI: Japan series. In the first video, I show you my morning walk to the neighborhood train station, while the latter follows my trek from the office to Niigata Station. Before you take a look, I wanted to give a quick disclaimer that I did not intend for any of my videos (past, present or future) to be fancy in any form.  My technical capabilities are very limited here, and my goal is simply to give a "slice of life" glance at Niigata. Other than that, enjoy the silliness!





I have some more videos in the works and should post them within the next two weeks. However, uploading has been much more of a pain than I expected, so please excuse any sort of delay.

 Stay tuned :) 
-Girl Informer

GI: Japan Episode 1 - Faith in humanity restored

Hello friends!

I've officially posted the first episode for my Girl Informer in Japan series. It was certainly not the subject matter that I was expecting to cover in my inaugural video, but that's how things usually seem to work out.



As mentioned in the video description, I was able to snap some pictures with/of my saviors. Pics or it didn't happen, right? Well you can check out the adorable duo below :)

I've already recorded some more short episodes and will try to upload them as soon as possible. For now, it's the weekend and I'm going to enjoy myself. Maybe even check out a local festival? Stay tuned!

Until next time,
-Girl Informer