SAM IN JAPAN: TOKYO

Hello fellows, so as I promised last week I’ll be going over what I did in Tokyo in a little bit more detail.  I’ll be talking briefly about food, shopping, sites to see and a little bit on craft shops for those that maybe interested.

So Tokyo, where to start?  It’s a busy, bustling, fast paced roller coaster ride where if you stop you will most likely get bull dozed over.  I’m kidding it’s not that bad but sometimes it you just felt that way.  Tokyo is definitely a happening place.  Literally everywhere you go it is non stop and there is something happening everywhere you go.  Shopping is just insane, with several storey buildings of shops which consist of some of the nicest fashion you’ve ever seen to some of the weirdest fashion you’ve ever seen.  Tokyo is definitely a fashion hub for the very eager shopper, especially places such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ginza.  Shinjuku and Shibuya are more targeted to a younger crowd from I’d say early teens to the early twenties whilst Ginza is more your branded goods such as Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Loui Vuiton and many other luxury brand items.  Shibuya is close to Harajuku (Harajuku being the more alternative fashion than your more mainstream) and Omotesando (a few more luxury branded items) so if you do plan to do a lot of shopping, give yourself a day around this area, it will most likely not be enough but enough to satisfy your shopping needs.

Food is absolutely cheap here, and when I say cheap I mean cheap (according to Australian standards).  You can buy a cup of coffee in Tokyo for around $2.00 or less.  It might not be amazing coffee (it was really hard to find a café that made good coffee) but if you need a caffeine fix it will have to do.  I did prior research into where I could find some good cafes that specialised in coffee but unfortunately with the time schedule and everything being hidden away and written in Japanese (if you can read Japanese you will benefit a lot) it was much too difficult to find.  Although their coffee may not be great their desserts are a culinary delight for the eyes and mouth.  Most desserts, especially their cakes are immaculately presented and are cute to the absolute max!  Also it’s not only their dessert but also their food is extremely well presented, even their junk food looks nice as well!  If you’re looking at eating on the go when you’re in Japan, if you’re not picky and you just want to fill you stomach I recommend heading into a 7 eleven, Lawson, Family Mart (all of these are convenience stores) and just grab a rice ball or bento box to carry around with you if you plan to cover a lot of ground on the day.  If not then just duck into a restaurant, however with my previous experience a lot of the Japanese people did not speak English, so be prepared to do lots of pointing holding up numbers on fingers.  If you’re looking at eating out at restaurants and such the most you’ll pay is $18 for a meal (if the place is not too ritzy).  A lot of places especially near shopping districts offer many cheap eats, some starting at just $3.00 for a bento box.  if you plan to eat some where a bit more extravagent then I would recommend making a booking before hand and knowing roughly what you want before going.  If you’re staying in a hotel the concierge will usually help you make restaurant bookings if you request it.

If you’re looking for art supplies, yes it is a little off the mark but it’s what I enjoy, so for those that are interested you can check out Tokyu hands.  There are a lot more arts and crafts shops but honestly if you don’t have lots of time, Tokyu hands is your one stop destination.  I found this website that gives a great map and provides great info on a couple of craft shops in the Shinjuku area http://blackcabbit.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/craft-stores-shinjuku/

This is just skimming the surface of what you can see and do in Tokyo, there’s so many incredibly cute cafes, strange shops, out there fashion, galleries, exhibitions and more.  I wish I had spent more time in Tokyo but I guess this just gives me another excuse to go back again.  For more pics from Tokyo you can see the set here on my flickr site.  Next week look forward to Yudanaka, a hot spring town and the bathing monkeys.

SAM IN JAPAN

So after a month long vacation I’m finally back from my trip to Japan with a stop over in Singapore for a week.   I have so many updates for you guys, the biggest one being my recent (well not that recent) move back to Perth Australia my hometown.  The move was 2 weeks before the holiday so please excuse the lack of posts as life has just been a whirlwind of moving and shaking.

For the next few weeks I’ll be posting about my trip to Japan focusing on the places which I have visited which I will give a more indepth description of what I did at each place.  For this place it’ll be a little overall info about where I went and some of the highlights from each place, just so I don’t leave you guys hanging.

So my journey started in Tokyo for a week then I went onto Yudanaka, then onto to Nagoya, Shirakawago and then onto Kyoto followed by Osaka, Koyasan, Yakushima (The forest island that inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke forest), Kagoshima and lastly finishing up in Tokyo once more.  After that it was Singapore for a week and back home to Perth.  I must say I mostly enjoyed the quieter areas of Japan better than the more popular touristy areas such as Tokyo and Osaka.  I used to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the busy crowds but I think as I’ve gotten older the constant pushing and shoving tends to rile the nerves a little bit.  Don’t get me wrong it’s still a great place to visit but for those that enjoy a little more of a slower paced holiday I suggest you start in Kyoto before you make a move to Tokyo.

That’s all for today’s post, stay in touch for more updates about the Japan trip (again sorry for all the delays).  Next post will focusing on Tokyo, my first travel spot.

Sorry for no posts lately guys

Hey guys, just a quick update, as the post title says sorry for not posting for a while guys.  I’ve made the move back to Perth from Melbourne and have had many shoots as well as organising my Japan holiday in 2 days time.  I hope to update this page regularly once I get my data SIM of what I’m getting up to in Japan so please bear with me and hopefully if all goes well you’ll see more posts on the blog of my adventures in Japan.  As penance for me not updating I’ll be posting more frequently in the next coming 4 weeks as I adventure to Japan for 3 and Singapore for 1.  Will hear from me again soon and again sorry for the lack of posts

Dukes Coffee Review

Wow it’s been a while since I did a cafe review in a while.  To be honest I’ve got a bit of a back log so I’ll try my best to catch up on some more reviews in the next few weeks.

Dukes Coffee is situated in one of my favourite areas to visit, located in Windsor it is a bustling cafe with a lovely warehouse like interior decked out with metal grids, natural woods and rich red brick with helpful waiters and bathed in natural light.  This place was BUSY when I arrived which was around 1 o’clock in the afternoon and like most popular cafes I had to wait a while until I was able to get a seat.  One thing about going to places by yourself (I usually like to eat alone if I’m reviewing a place) is that they can always squeeze you in somewhere with out waiting too long.  However if you go in a group of maybe 3 or more people it looks like you will be waiting for a good 20-40mins.  I was seated quickly and handed a menu to peruse while I waited for someone to come and take my order.  I waited quite a while but it looked like I wasn’t going to be served anytime soon so I had to flag down a waitress and made my order.  The waitress was extremely helpful to answering some of my questions about the coffee’s they were offering, as I’m still quite a noob when it comes to coffee (so I believe).  She recommended a geisha blend and gave me a good description of it’s flavours as well as helped me in making a decision about whether to get the fish tacos or the goats cheese omelette (i got the fish tacos) and after taking my order promptly headed to the kitchen.  Shortly after I received my aero press geisha coffee, a slightly asian flavoured sweet fruity blended coffee which reminded me alot of the cold drip coffees (except hot) and my fish tacos which looked rather measly but after consumption was quite filling and rather tasty.  The coffee and food was very satisfying, and at a moderate price of $19 AUD you can’t complain.  Downside of things is that it was rather loud, so if you like to eat in silence or a quiet ambience then I would recommend somewhere else.  Dukes Coffee also does their own coffee beans, unfortunately since it was so busy and their website is does not provide any information from what I could gather they do their own roasting.  Overall I would come back again if I was in the area.

Sketch Dump

Hi guys, so it’s been a while since I have uploaded any of my illustrations, it seems most of my posts consist of photo shoots or food hahaha.  These last 2 weeks I’ve been fervently banging out sketches and illustrations so without further adieu here they are.  Also if you’d like to see more sketches, photos and other what nots check out my tumblr site here.  Enjoy!

Snow Queen Shoot

Some time late last year I did a photoshoot inspired by the story of the ‘Snow Queen’.  Originally this shoot was supposed to take place in autumn last year but due to the other photographers and models busy schedule I had to shift the shooting time to later in December.  Along the way a few things needed to be altered to the design/concept since originally I had come up with the idea in autumn, the concept consisted of more layers, furs, jewellery and such.   Unfortunately since the shoot was moved to December (which by then we were experiencing summer) alterations had to be made to the initial idea so I had to come up with a new substitute for the shoot.  Over the last weeks of putting everything together we finally did the shoot on a lovely hot 36 degree day and after several hours of make up and styling we got our shots in under an hour.

Thanks goes to Siera who was my lovely model and to the incredible Marina Pi who did the hair and make up on the day.

Phew it was a long day but had lots of fun with great company and good times.  Below are some BTS shots as well as the final shots from the day.  Enjoy!!!

The very first image is the concept for the snow queen’s make up and feel, digital artwork done by myself for make up artists reference.

Australian Academy of Design 2012 Grad show Part 2

So last week I posted the first part of the the Australian Academy of Design Grad show which you can see here.  Just updating this post with some of the other stand out (in my opinion) designers on the night as well as some shots on the day.  Unfortunately I could not remember all the designers name but have categorised it so that all the collections by the respective designer are together.  Short and sweet post as I’ll be updating again soon with my most recent photo shoot