‘Yasei’! Brilliant graphic design from Nike, these insect resemblance made from numbers of pairs of Nike Free sport shoes have never been seen by me in any other places, except in Harajuku street fashion district of Tokyo. Nike Free Haven shoes are used to make up a spider while Nike Free Advantage are made into a butterfly. In fact there is another huge dragon resemblance graphic displayed on the billboard which I did not capture.

Whatever is it, they made me stop at their shopfront and start looking closely. A successful piece of marketing material from Nike. ‘Yasei’ or wild is their slogan. How could they think of this crazy idea! Perhaps they are only for Japan domestic market, which I don’t know, or anyone knows about this?

It is always interesting to see different models and advertisement of your favourite brands in other countries. And this is a privilege to FIT (Free and Independent Travel) travelers when we have the leisure and freedom to stroll down the shopping street slowly, without being urged to leave for the next destinations. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Japan.

One travel accessory I always use on my travel is security money belt. Since I’m always on the go and travel around many different countries in the world, securely keeping my personal belonging with me is critical, in order to enjoy my holidays with total peace of mind. Security money belt has to be designed for wearing around the waist for hiding important personal stuffs such as money, passports and travel documents from others while traveling.

Especially during this recession period in many parts of Europe, one of the biggest threat to travelers when traveling around Europe is pick-pocket. I have heard enough similar incidences of wallet being stolen from travelers visiting Europe. While some amount of local currencies and small change of money can be put into your wallet in your pocket, other essential documents and remaining monies should be kept away from the sight of others. Better be safe than sorry, a small piece of travel accessory like this will save you from bigger hassle later if you are unlucky. One security belt that meets all my requirement is definitely Travel Blue security money belt.

I have been using Travel Blue Security Money Belt since my first visit to Europe. This Security Money Belt is so thin that makes it very hard to detect under your T-shirt. It includes 2 large compartments to hide cash, a passport, credit cards and other travel documents. I wore this belt on all days in Europe to keep my passport and most of the Euros. It is made from water-resistant material to block your sweat, and is backed with a soft non-woven material which is kind to the skin. The best of all, it fits all people up to 122 cm (48”) waist.

About the manufacturer, Travel Blue is a world leader in travel accessories established over 25 years ago in US. Their wide range of products can be found all over the globe, spanning over 90 countries in thousands of outlets. I bought mine in Malaysia and I’ve been using it for 3 years without issue. They have also other travel accessories for women which are trendy as well as practical such as laptop protector, small pouch, ear plug and eyes mask.

You can always buy a nice Florentine leather wallet if you lose it, but you can’t get your passport replacement easily if it’s being pickpocketed. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide.

Brilliant. A simple word says it all. This is how I describe the cityscape view at night in Hakodate, Japan. Fortunately, with a steady tripod and my Nikon D7000 hooked up with Nikkor 10-24mm ultra wide angle lens, I managed to captured it at a perfect timing, just before the fog and after the rain, and at the perfect location, on the top of Mount Hakodate. What makes this one of the best city view in Japan, apart from the attractive lighting at night, is the location from where we are looking over, the Mount Hakodate.

Some EXIF info: Shot in Aperture Priority Auto mode, with Shutter speed 4 Sec and Aperture f5.0. Focus distance was set to 18mm. ISO 100. Auto White Balance. No flash fired and -1/3 EV exposure being compensated with Matrix metering.

Mount Hakodate (函館山) is the highest point in Hakodate, measuring 334m high. Due to its geographical location at the Southern tip of the city , it gives us the best height and position to view the whole city, nothing but the city of Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan.

I should have set a smaller Aperture such as F9 or F11 but huge crowds on top of the observation deck made it impossible to capture a sharp image. So I opted for a much faster shutter speed. blessing in disguise, the result came out was not too bad at all. I love it! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Japan.

If you are traveling to Japan, you will definitely need one of these items. On top of the essential items in any travel’s packing list, and other travel accessory, the following list is equally important for a piece of mind travel in Japan. Since Japan is somehow an unique country with its very own characteristics and cultures, I realised after my visit to Japan that packing list for traveling in Japan is inevitably different from any other countries around the world.

Here are the top 5 items that any traveler visiting Japan should include in his or her packing list:

1. Power socket converter – similar to the uniqueness of power socket in China, Japan has also its very own type of power socket outlet. The standard double close flat pin socket without earthing, with the standard voltage of only 100V, 50 Hz in Eastern Japan and 60 Hz in Western Japan, require a power socket converter if you are from most other parts of the world except US. All modern gadgets nowaday include your cameras, smartphones, iPad and laptops require batteries to be recharged in order to keep all your devices including cameras working for the whole holidays;
2. Netbook or laptop – You certainly need internet connection on your Japan travel to check your train time table, weather, maps and direction, or to check in your flight. Unless you have extra money to spare on the expensive data roaming service in your smartphone, most hotels in Japan does not provide WiFi service in their guest rooms. Instead, LAN cable connection is always available. The easiest way is to hook up your netbook with LAN cable and make it as a hotspot for your smartphone or iPad WiFi connection.
3. Digital camera system – Japan is a beautiful country with plenty of travel attractions such as the Mount Fuji, Cherry blossom park, Japanese castles, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. These breathtaking and iconic sites deserve countless presses of shutter button from every travel photographer. So make sure you have a decent camera to capture all of them and share with others. If you are keen of night scene photography which Japan is famous for, pack a steady tripod as well;
4. Calculator – All prices of all things sold in Japan shown in Japanese Yen. As the figure are huge if compared with other major international currencies (1,000 yen is equal to only USD12.38), bringing along a calculator will sure making our lives easier when buying tickets, foods and shopping!
5. Lots of Japanese Yen (¥ or 円) – Japan is a country of cash. Most shops and restaurants accept only cash. Credit card is not widely used in Japan so make sure you bring along enough Japanese Yen to avoid embarrassment. Good news is carrying tens of thousands Yen of cash in wallet is normal in Japan and safety in Japan is among the best.

The above 5 items are most useful if you are a flashpacker preferring FIT (Free and Independent Travel) style of travel to Japan. If you are traveling  as a couple with your wife or girlfriend, these items should be in your packing list instead of hers. She has her own travel accessories for women to take care of I’m afraid! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Japan.

After 10 days of holidays in Japan, I’m finally back to work today! Hooray! Another exciting and memorable tour to me, traveling Japan was always a dream for me and it finally came true! Even more tantalizing to some of you travel photography hobbyists, I have captured more than 2,000 images from the trip with my lovely Nikon D7000 and now have a new travel photos collection for Japan!

To tease some of you out there, here is one of my photos snapped during my visit to the Meiji Shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Meiji Shrine (明治神宮 Meiji Jingū), is the Shinto shrine (Japanese temple) that is dedicated to the late Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. It demonstrates barrels of sake (nihonshu) donated to the Meiji Shrine.

Other than various Shinto shrines found everywhere in Japan, Buddhist temples are also prominent in many cities in Japan especially historic cities of Kyoto, Nara, Kamakura and Tokyo. I’m pleased to have visited quite some of them and was totally amazed by their jaw dropping temple constructions and statues.

For breathtaking scenes, I have also visited Hakone for close scenes of Mount Fuji, and viewing Cherry Blossom blooming in Hakodate was absolutely brilliant!

Apart from sightseeing, I have also the chance to taste some of the Japanese authentic local cuisine includes sushi, teppanyaki, Kobe beef, don, ice cream, rice crackers, Hokkaido giant crab,  scallops and many more, which are mouth watering.

Having said that, unusual rainy weather for most of the days have had caused snapping photos a bit tricky, which was a let down to me.

If you are tempted to view my travel photos and stories in Japan, subscribe to my email feeds or keep watching this space for updates. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Japan.