Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, Wall, 20th Anniversary, Berlin, Germany, Deutschland

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Makiko and Rob tell of their travels through Viet Nam & Cambodia.  Part one of two, in other words, to be continued...

Photo:  Weaving factory at a Muslim minority village near the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, upper Mekong Delta.

Related podcast:  Panic Living #77:  和牛ï¼� (Rob talks about the first two-thirds of the Vietnam-Cambodia trip)

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, places, gypsies, travel, Vietnam, Saigon, Hochi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Mekong River, Delta, Capital 1, tuk tuk, cyclo, spring rolls, duck eggs, Angkor, ABC, Black Panther, beer

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Canarias reductos de biodiversidad from Pedro Felipe on Vimeo.

This is a video recommended to me by Edo, a buddy from Canarias (The Canary Islands).

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Pedro Felipe, Canarias, biodiversidad, biodiversity, ecology, environment, Canary Islands, Spain, Atlantic Ocean, wildlife

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Take a bath with Lizzie who joined us for Time to Shine in 2009 and Of Gadgets & Nanpa.

Lizzie writes:  "I managed to get a sneaky film on the inside of an onsen while I was spending time in the Japanese North Alps in a small little town called Kamikochi. The onsen was empty so I thought I would take... "

Posted by Rob

Tags:  NFTOS, Transit Lounge, Transit Lounging, Dating in Japan, gadgets, Miss Riz, Liz, Lizzie, travel, visit, tourism, onsen, hot springs, Aussie, Nagano, Japan, Korea, China, Asia

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This is the first NFTOS video I made in Tokyo, three years ago today. I'm just reporting what I see here. Don't ask me for my opinion. There has been plenty written and said already on the topic. Feel free to join the YouTube chatter!

Posted by Rob.

Tags:  NFTOS, Tokyo, Japan

Posted by Rob.

p.s. I'll ask Alex to upload this in a higher quality .m4v format or something you can download on iTunes and/or play on your iPod/iPhone/whatever thing you may use.

Posted by Rob

Heading home on New Year's Day 2007, after DJing at ノScrub and greeting the first sunrise of the New Year at Oasis Lounge. We had been given the keys to lock up, and we were supposed to put them in the *secret place* afterwards. When we got home to Alex's pad where we were staying, I realized I had put Alex's keys in their *secret place* instead, so we had to go back to Oasis to exchange keys. It was a long long morning.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, DJ El Gringo, Osaka, ノScrub, Oasis Lounge, Miyakojima, Sakuranomiya, Japan, ノScrub Oasis Lounge, HiJak, New Year's party, January 1st, DJ El Gringo, makikomo, 新年, 元旦, 都島, 桜宮, 大阪, 日本

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Alex's Tour of Japan (Series?).

This one's from Brian who says he's seen better. Where? In the big city? In Beijing? Not in Portland, Tennessee, I'll bet! I want the guy's soundtrack. Any way you could find out for me what it is? I find it very motivational! Gonna use it to help me get out of bed in the morning...

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, Brian Ruckle, China, Liaoning, street performer

This one is from the end of 2006. We spent a couple days with the family by the sea, at Ise-shima in Mie Prefecture. Ukulele intro by Andrew.

Tags: NFTOS, Ise, shima, Mie, Japan, makikomo, Rob, sea, ocean, splash, wet, falling, rock, scrambling, jumping, soak, ukulele, 伊勢志摩, 三�県, 日本

Posted by Rob.

Makiko and I have been working in an eco-village in exchange for room and board for the past three weeks.  We've been doing a wide variety of farm chores, ecological activities, building and renovation.  In addition, we've been doing purely fun stuff like bottling beer, baking (using fruit we picked ourselves), kayaking and mountain bike riding.  If this sounds like your cup of tea, then check out this link:  http://www.wwoof.org 

Our adventure began with a boost three Saturdays ago with our Auckland homestay host driving us as far north as Warkworth, nearly halfway to the eco-village.  From there we almost immediately hitched a ride, but the driver was another foreigner who was lost and looking for the golf course.

A few minutes later, we got picked up by a couple who were headed to Kaiwaka for an anniversary party.  They took us right to our turn off, where we were fully intending to walk the rest of the way, but got another ride after about 200 meters.   At the entrance of the eco-village, one of the original founders spotted us and took us to the family we'd be staying with for the first five days.

In my next audio podcast, Makiko and I will tell you more about the wwoofing experience itself.  We've taken tons of photos and video, which I hope to upload little by little, once we're back in Auckland. 

Today we're just taking it easy, and there's a big birthday party tonight with at least 3 bands!  Of course, that means even more photos and videos to sift through once we get back to the big city.  

In the meantime, please stay tuned to our podcasts, as Alex and others keep us entertained and informed on what's going on in Tokyo and the rest of the world...

Posted by Rob. 

Wandering through a cabbage patch, a rebel is spotted.

This one was recorded on my mom's camera. Hi mom!

Posted by Rob.

NFTOS, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, Chinese cabbage, B. chinensis, bok choy, pak choi, xiao baicai, Chinese chard, Chinese celery, hakusai, 白�?�, 滋賀県

This procession went by outside our house. I could hear it coming down the street and had enough time to run outside and film them walking past. I've lived here almost a year and a half, but I don't know anything about it. Last year, I was probably still at work at this time. I'll see if I can find out anything about it and report back! Also, it was shot on an old digital camera, so sorry about the poor lighting and bad audio.

Posted by Rob.

Tags: NFTOS, procession, Kagurazaka, Tokyo, Japan

I made this video just for fun and as a reminder of the many hours I have spent looking out of the Shinkansen at the countryside gliding past. I must have used it close to a hundred times commuting between Tokyo, Osaka and sometimes Fukuoka for work. It's clean, fast, on time and generally quite a smooth experience. However for some reason there always seems to be a competition between the pensioners as to who can eat the weirdest and most stinky bento. One old man opens his bento box with an expression on his face that seems to say "behold, sliced boiled eggs and crunchy fishy snacks". And then another old lady will open her bento "dried stinky squid, I win!". It is usually better to bring your own food on the Shinkansen on a long journey. Although the food isn't bad, it is expensive and if I wanted to burn money when I ate out I'd live in London.

The thing I love about traveling on Japanese trains is that speaking on the phone is considered rude. Oh, the times I've had to endure idiots on buses in America and wankers on the tube in London screaming down their phone things like "I'm on the train...no...I SAID I'M ON THE TRAIN". The Shinkansen also has quiet cars where phones have to be switched off completely.

The Shinkansen started running in 1964 in time for the Tokyo Olympics and hasn't had a single fatality due to collisions, derailments, typhoons or even earthquakes. There was one fatality when a child got caught in one of the doors and there are jumpers too but it is a safe train.

Top potential speeds of the Shinkansen would be 443 kph set by the Class 955 (300X) test train but general operation speeds are around 300 kph so I believe the TGV in France is actually faster. If you want to know more nerdy stuff about the Shinkansen you can go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen

The music in the video is "Muziqawi Silt" by the "Wallias Band". I chose the music because of the driving beat and the pentatonic melody slightly reminiscent of Japanese music. Here's to Ethiopian jazz. Enjoy the video.

Video and blog text by Alex. Direct download and blog: Learn Japanese blog.

Tags: NFTOS, Alex Brooke, Shinkansen, Osaka, Tokyo, train, travel, journey, sights, Kyoto, pagoda, temple, Shitenno-ji, 新幹線, 京都, 大阪, �京, 日本

I went to Dublin in the first few days of 2008 to meet up with my tour guide Jonny Heartbreaker of the If Factor. We had a grand old time as they say there. Pub crawling, Guinness factory crawling and then just crawling at one point. Jonny is in good form as ever with plans to take over the world in a musical fashion. So lift up your glasses and do the river dance, it's 2008!

Posted by Alex.

Tags: NFTOS, Jonny Heartbreaker, Alex Brooke, Dublin, Guinness, The IF Factor

What is a symphony to some is an earbleeding nightmare to others. Pachinko parlors and game centers I can certainly do without. This video was filmed in Higashi Umeda, Osaka, and edited (very little) by Alex. I think you'll find the .m4v file much clearer than the YouTube clip. Posted by Rob.

Okha says:
"road trip from San diego, California to Arizona for 3days, March 9th to 11th, 2007, with charles. we passed pine forest, grand canyon, colorado river, sand dune..."

I recommend watching it while listening to the Jerry-Sae-Alex version of "Wine Red no Kokoro" a.k.a. "Jerry's Funk." Step one: Open another page and download the track titled "Jerry's Funk." Two: Play Okha's road trip video with the volume off. What do you get? Something that reminded me of a Mazzy Star music video, only with Japanese vocals and traditional instruments. Get it? Hmm...

Posted by Rob.

Here's a travel gem from Flying Koala. I think the commentary and the incidental sounds are the best part! Posted by Rob.

Here's a video Makiko edited from some footage we shot in the park last week. See part 1: Picnic near Imperial Palace. Sorry, neither are very hi-tech. Posted by Rob.

Filmed and edited by Rob and Makiko.

Posted by Rob.

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Okha a.k.a. Flying Koala listening to music and talking with her friend Heyeon on the way to the top of Bukbawi Mountain in Chungbuk, Korea, Sunday, 5th November 2006. Interesting background music. Wonder what they're saying! Makes me wanna learn some Korean... Posted by Rob.

Take a deep breath. Turn the volume up and listen to the voice, or watch it without sound. Don't bother to read the comments on YouTube. You already know what the wiseguys will be saying about this soothing sunrise. Posted by Rob.

Joe Baldwin watches the media who watch the Chicago Latino community who rally in support of one Elvira Arellano who was supposed to surrender to 'immigration' for deportation, but who chose instead to seek refuge in a church. I helped with the translation (which appears only partially). Posted by Rob.

The Flying Koala a.k.a. Okha has been traveling around the Mediterranean, first Egypt, then Turkey. Here's the message she left us when she embarked on her journey and here's her photo blog which she's been updating countinuously. Posted by Rob.

Flying Koala (creator of the wonderful banner art at the top of the page) is back from her North American trip and will soon be off to Cairo, Egypt! Read all about her new travels in English and Korean, see some great travel photos and check out her intriguing artwork too! Posted by Rob.

My good friend and Uber techboy Neil Roodyn talked to me about his trip to Brazil, armed guards, 28 star hotels, Chile and Oz. Check out his own podcast here. Posted by Alex.

This is another video from my brother Hans who just got back from a birdwatching tour of the Colorado Rockies. Hans says, "We went on a run to see all of Colorado's chicken-like birds doing mating displays on their breeding grounds." Which, to birdwatchers means something. For the rest of you out there, this video segment features snow, an impass due to snow and more snow! Stay tuned as the saga unfolds! To be continued... Posted by Rob

BULA! Andrew, Claire, Makiko and Rob find themselves on Waya Island, Fiji, for Andrew's birthday and New Year's 2006. All four are original members of the News From The Other Side art & culture community. Andrew and Claire eat frequent flyer miles for breakfast everyday. Both are accomplished linguists and photographers. I'll post their links soon. Filmed by Makiko. Edited by Makiko and Rob. Post by Rob. WARNING: PARTIAL NUDITY.

Here is part two of Charles Billard's China video filmed in Dali, Suzhuo and Kuming in 2005. More videos from Charles coming soon!

For all the fuss and noise these guys like to make, they sure are sensitive about being filmed by strangers. Aparently, it's OK for the cops and for TV cameras to film them. Also, they had cameras of their own, so I'm probably on one of their websites somewhere. Anyway, a few of them got out of their vehicles to properly welcome me to Tokyo. Unfortunately, I had just turned the camera off, so I missed the most touching moments of cultural exchange...

Posted by Rob.

�ャルズ�ら見�中国�ビデオ��。���。 A glimpse of China through Charles Billard's lens accompanied by seven-string harp. Listen to a bunch of his original music over in the music folder or watch his other videos in this folder or in the music video folder. To see his more humorous side, I recommend watching Icitte les Oeufs. Posted by Rob.