Japan Holiday 2025 Part 1

This year's Japan trip was good for sure.  Ironically because I didn't bring Lincoln along.  I had been firm with him, if his grades didn't improve then he can forget about going with us.  And by mid-year I didn't see any improvements in both his grades and attitudes and made the call to leave him behind.  As usual he never proved me wrong when he got 31 points for his L1R5, even making excuses to avoid taking the report book home.  In any case.....  this year's trip has been more satisfying for sure too.  I covered most places I want to visit in my itineray and I didn't lose temper at all from having to deal with that boy.

Lindsay Enjoying Her In-flight Entertainment - Galaxy S23+

Japan Trip 2024 - Part 1: Tokyo Mainland

So, here's the first part of the detailed post for our 2024 Japan holiday.  This time we started our trip from Tokyo and made our way to snow country Hokkaido.  The trip was full of new experiences, just as how our 2023 holiday was.

Let's Go! - Galaxy S23+

Delightful December

In less than half an hour, 2023 will come to an end.  This December has been delightful for a number of reasons, the main one being that I spent the first 2 weeks of the month on my Japan vacation.  It is a long overdue vacation since 2019, so I made sure to make this trip well it's worth.  We travelled across Tokyo, Kawaguchiko, Kyoto, Osaka & Karuizawa before finally ending the trip with a bang in Tokyo Disneyland & Tokyo Disneysea. 

Waiting to Board Our Flight - Galaxy S23+

Tokyo Business Trip March 2019

Here’s my first entry for Marvelous March - Dang, I missed to write an entry for "Fabulous Feburary"....  Anyway, I just returned from a work trip to Tokyo where I visited Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha’s HQ for some briefings along with one of my bosses. 

Looking at The Tarmac While Waiting - RX100 Mk3

Tokyo Biz Trip October 2017

In October I had a chance to visit Tokyo to attend training with my company's vendor.  It was a great 7 days trip to Tokyo after 8 years.  Yes, that's how long it had been since I last visited Japan.  This time I flew by ANA and took a day time flight to Haneda which is much nearer than Narita.

For this trip I went with my Fujifilm X-T2 + XF10-24mm F4R OIS.  I bought that XF10-24 from a friend who wants to upgrade to the XF16-55, not sure if he got it already or not...  Anyway, that 10-24 was a great buy which I really loved from the moment I got it.  I really missed shooting at such a wide angle!

ANA for a change from the usual SIA

Hands-on With a Rented 5D Mark II

So I sold my D90 to my colleague and good friend.  I was "DSLR-less" for a while, pondering which full frame camera I want to get, or more importantly which system I want to commit to.

The D700 is good in ISO performance, dynamic range & 51 AF points.  I also love the cooler colours of the photos and built-in flash BUT only 12 MP.

The 5D Mark II boasts 22 MP which was really quite something at that time.  But only 9 AF points which were slow compared to D700 and no built-in flash.  However the colour depth was there and the ISO performance is remarkable given the resolution.  More importantly, the full frame lenses in the Canon camp are not as expensive as Nikon's (oh yes, this is a very important consideration too...  I don't want the missus to kill me for spending so much on photography stuffs!).

So based on the considerations above I decided to go with Canon 5D Mark II.  Not wanting to regret the choice, I decided to rent a 5D Mark II first, and what better opportunity to use it than when my company sent me on a business trip to Tokyo. My gear for that trip was a Canon 5D Mark II and the EF 17-40mm F4L.

This charming lady is my colleague who bought my D90 and this photo was taken with the 5D Mark II. That was my D90 she's holding there!  ;)