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for the past few years, i have been tagging along with my wife around the u.s. during the wekfest tours but two years ago, they added their first international tour destination... japan. i could not have been more stoked because japan has always been one of my top places to visit ever since i was a kid and not to mention, i fucking love jdm cars! i was really into cars growing up. i wasn't the type to build one, i just really loved cars. i have fast n furious to blame for that. wekfest has always held high standards in expectations of what a solid built car should be so you can imagine all the types of cars that are in the show. 

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after a long day at the castle, my wife decided to rest up back in the hotel so i decided to go out on a solo mission to shoot the city of nagoya after sunset. i didn't know anyone out in nagoya and according to google, there just isn't a whole lot here other than the nagoya tv tower, but i was still super stoked to go roam around and hunt for the tv tower. after a few short train stops, i arrived on the block of the tower and i began doing a huge lap around it looking for different ways to capture it.

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i've always found history class interesting, but that didn't mean i did well in history class. there were always certain parts of class that were super interesting, and then there were parts that were the death of me. but when it comes to learning history when its right in front of you, and you're walking through it, it's a completely different story. you just want to soak it all in and imagine how it would've been like if you were there, in its time of prime. I'm sure they didn't have ice cold cups of beer, or takoyaki (octopus balls. not balls balls, like testicle balls.. but fried dough balls with octopus in it. delicious!) stands. 

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with little to no plans at all upon waking up in the morning we decided to just wing it. with no tour guide or many suggestions on what to do in Nagoya, we did know that there was a castle here so that's what we aimed for. poor planning or just a lack of understanding the japanese language can lead you on some adventures! we ended up just finding some tour bus that did laps around the city and made frequent stops to a bunch of super touristy locations so we figured why not. The first stop we jumped off at was some botanical garden that didn't have much of any botanicals at all. just a couple of food trucks, a very small gallery, and a bunch of kids doing arts and crafty sorts of things. best thing here was the frozen lemonade. next...

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there is one thing i've learned from the number of hotels we've stayed at in japan; to never expect a huge fluffy bed. it seems that japanese people prefer sleeping on very firm mattresses. i'm talking like box spring firm. i really didn't mind. although I do love a good soft bed to sink into; sleep is sleep. i make due with what i get, whether its on the floor, couch, head rested on a desk, hell, I've even slept in a bathtub before. because when you're tired, any sleep is good sleep. so we decided to just chill and take a nap before dinner.

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we arrived in nagoya and quickly greeted with humidity and heat. two of the things i hate most when traveling. for the fact that it makes you super uncomfortable when just walking from point a to point b. immediately covered in a layer of sweat, it just sucks. i love the cold, and i would much prefer freezing weather than being in the heat but enough with the complaints. we walked right across the street and checked in our bags and such since it was still a bit too early to check into our hotel. just explored around the area and took some photos. last year when we came out to nagoya, we were in the cuts. there was nothing around, nothing to really do. this time around, we stayed in central nagoya, and it was so much nicer than i had imagined. i think that's one of the things i enjoy most about traveling, being able to see and explore so many new things. you learn so much just by looking at the city's architecture, people, storefronts, signs, art, all of it. 

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being that we landed in tokyo at 4:45am, we had no choice but to start our day then. our first order of business, was of course to eat. the shinigawa station is definitely one of my favorite train stations because it has a ton of good restaurants, and they have a porter store in there... Come on, a porter store inside a train station. definitely strategically placed. everyone who is traveling will stop in and think, "hey, i could use a new bag." especially in japan, their currency is way different than u.s. currency. there's a shit load of coins. so having some sort of coin pouch is necessary when in japan. keep that in mind. 
but back to the food! there's this stand up sushi spot that we go to all the time when we are here. don't even know the name of it, i just know where it is and what i want. you walk in, you're greeted, and asked to take a spot at the stand up bar. its self serve green tea, which is awesome by the way. a jar of matcha powder, tea cup, and a hot water spout right in front of you to get your drink yourself. you then just order whatever you want with the sushi master in front of you. you order it, he makes it, and puts it right in front of you. it's really that easy. none of that fancy unnecessary shit, its straight to the point. i've learned that good sushi is not about how fresh the fish is. you can pull a fish right out of the water, cut it open and eat it and that doesn't necessarily mean its good just because its fresh. the people who pick out the fish to serve really know their shit. the quality of the fish is what they look for, the fat factor and all that. this place honestly had some of the best tasting sushi i've ever had and not to mention, it's the cheapest. you get 2 pieces of bincho maguro for less than $2.00.. that's crazy. so you know when i go here, i order like crazy. I can't get enough of it.
after lunch, we had to take the bullet train to nagoya. off we go.

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with the way things go these days, it seems that long-form blogging has somewhat died due to the popularity of face-pace social networking. things like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat.. it's all super convenient, i know.. but i still love posting photos and writing extensive entries for blog purposes without the worry of getting "likes" or any of that. the fact that people take the time out their day to reading see what i have to show and say is a blessing. I'm stoked to announce that we have launched our blog section on mighty killers. we have hand selected creatives and photographers who really embody what mighty killers stands for and has the ability to showcase to the world through blogging and we are hunting for more. head on over to mighty killers website to check out our new blog.

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i was totally excited, but not excited for this red-eye flight to japan. we took off at about 1:00AM.. our flight duration was 10 hours. we land in Tokyo at 4:45AM.. theres a huge 16 hour time difference. so yea, you can imagine getting lost somewhere in there in the mix of hours, and a.m.'s and p.m.'s.. whether its still the same day or the next day. wait.. what? yea. exactly. just weird and exhausting to think about, so let's just not even think about that part at all and just go about our day as if it were any other day, but of course with the help of a shit load of coffee. one thing i did look forward to was the coffee vending machines they had scattered abundantly all over japan. please!

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been wanting to hit this spot for the longest. came across this location in a traveling magazine a while back and have always had it down on my list of locations to hit up and shoot but just never got around to it until now. it's one of those hidden gems that not a lot of people know about. it's not on the top of the list for most simply because it's not put out there as much as other spots in northern california; which is what made me want to come to this place even more. it, to me, was untouched territory to explore. i didn't see much photo of this place so it allowed me to be clear of any inspired shots that most places have. you know? like, if you go to yosemite, there is the cliche shot that everyone, i mean... everyone takes when they go there. but here, its clear of all of that. all you got is your thoughts, your camera, and your creativity. after hours and miles of uphill climb in the heat, temptations of turning back came into mind several times. part of the reason was because the entire climb up, there wasn't much to see so not really knowing what was at the top was definitely a coin flip. the chances of getting to the top and not having much of a view would have been devastating but that's the chances you take when you go out and explore. you never know the outcome. you never know what you're going to be able to capture, it could be complete shit... or it can be something like this, beautiful.

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the long haul home.

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the utah salt flats is definitely a place that belongs in the fantasy world. what seemed like miles and miles of snow, was in fact salt. this place was amazing and i couldn't get enough of it. i've only heard of this place, seen some photos of it but never did i think that i was going to visit this surreal place. it was just a spot that we were driving past, about 2 hours out the way from where we were headed so we decided it was just one of those times where if we didn't go now, we would never go. we drove and drove and drove until we hit this vast land of salt. i read that this was an open area that allowed people to drive onto the surface. plenty of car commercials were actually shot out this way so of course we went off road and started swinging donuts... in a honda insight.. haha. we caught this the sunset just in time, it was crazy looking. looked like it was a scene from lord of the rings with the crazy colors and clouds floating above.

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i had one of the most terrifying nights in my life last night while sleeping in the tent. knowing that bears were now waking from their long hibernation, i knew the chances of a bear visiting us were there. as i am completely bundled into my mummy sleeping bag with just a tiny hole left over around my face, only enough to breathe, i woke in the middle of the night by something knocking at my feet. the way my legs were getting knocked back and forth, i for sure thought it was a bear. i was definitely scared. i did not move one muscle, i just laid there in complete darkness, trying to not make a sound or make any movement. i just laid there staring up at pitch black. it kept going on and on and i just laid there just hoping it would stop but i didn't want to move to grab the lantern to check. after some time, it stopped but i was still too scared to move to check so i just closed my eyes and hoped it was gone. 

come morning, i woke up. alive. and i looked around and everything was cool. the tent zippers were all sealed still, no traces of bears coming into the tent, unless it was kind enough to zip the tent after he left. however, i did find the other 3 guys, somehow at my feet. weird because we all fell asleep in each corner of the tent, and keep in mind we had a huge ass tent, but somehow, they all ended up near the center. i had told the guys what happen last night and how i thought a bear got into our tent and was knocking my feet.. come to find out, it was Spencer hitting my legs, thinking he was hitting Matt for snoring so loud. this moment quickly became one of those moments... fuck.

anyhow, as the other 2 guys kept sleeping, Spencer and i climbed up the hill right behind our camp ground and came across a gem. right up over the hill was the rim trail, with amazing views of the canyons. hopped around the tops and find some pretty cool views.

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after a long days worth of hiking up and down the canyons, it couldn't have been more relaxing to just finally chill by the fire tent-side. although it was cold af, i couldn't have been happier to finally wind down and have a place to lay down and sleep. there's really nothing like a star filled sky and a camp fire going.

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exhausted from the strike up, we took a good long minute to just sit atop and soak in the views. There was still a good amount of time left before the sun was going to set so that was good. having some time to catch our breath and just chill, instead of rushing to the next spot to make sure we get the sunset shots was a relief. although being on the opposite side of the sunset, it was still amazing to watch the colors in the sky really pop off. good day.

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so apparently this part of the park was closed off during the season because of... i honestly don't even know why it was closed up but i just know people were saying it was closed, and there was a chain link with a sign that said it was closed, so yea, it was closed? but shit, we didn't sit in the car for 20 hours to be turned around by a sign. we took the chain link as a cautionary sign and proceeded, of course watching for falling rocks and what not. this was definitely the highlight of the hike and to think, we were just going to just turn around after finding out it was closed. definitely glad we didn't cause this place was amazing.after we got all of our shots, we had the decision to make to either turn around and walk another mile or two to make it back up to the top where we began to catch sunset, or we can take the zig zag trail straight up. we took the zig zag. however, this way back up was like walking into a trap. the entire way up, we were visible to a bunch of tourists, hikers, and potentially rangers so as we made our way up, we kept seeing people stare at us cause there was a fat sign saying it was closed and it's considered trespassing... so we were breaking the law basically in plain sight. luckily, we made it out without getting in trouble, just a few smart ass remarks under the breath of a few older photographers. he was mad bro.

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stoked.

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power nap for the win. woke up feeling super refreshed and ready to take on this hike. this place was definitely a sight to see. the entire place was just massive and so much unique formations everywhere you looked. we stopped and chatted with the rangers just to learn a bit more about the place, things to do, things to avoid, all that jazz. most interesting was learning about the deaths here at bryce canyon. some accidental, some intentional. either way, it's just interesting stuff to know. I'm not sure if people do much research on places they have been or are going to but i always thought it's super interesting to know the history of a certain spot. without the history, you're just staring at rocks and cliffs. but don't get me wrong, they are still just as amazing to look at.

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after a long night drive, we finally reached Bryce canyons and you would not imagine how excited i was to finally get to the grounds, pitch a tent and just finally lay out and sleep. so we drove around the spaces looking for a open lot, one after another, after another. everything was taken. i was totally that asshole driving around peoples tents with my headlights on looking to see if the space was taken or not, I'm sure i woke up hella people. after countless laps around all of the camp sites, we finally gave up and decided to try and look elsewhere outside of the park. trust me, i was super tempted just to pull over anywhere and pitch the tent and sleep but the thought of getting cited for that just didn't seem too convincing. we ended up trying to find a hotel near by and even that was completely full. left with no choice, we just pulled into a random parking lot and slept in the car. we only have a couple hours before sunrise so we decided it couldn't be that bad. 

couple hours pass, legs are numb, neck is in pain, spine is pissed at me, but hey, i made it through the night. i woke up right when the sun started rising. i knew i didn't have much time so i quickly started up the car and started driving back into the park and hustled our way up to the top to catch sunrise. definitely worth it.

as much as we wanted to continue down into the canyons, we made the smart choice of heading back to the campgrounds and finding a space to pitch a tent so we could all just relax and take a power nap.. oh and eat of course.

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this past weekend was our creative morning talk "coffee with the killers" that we put together with general assembly san francisco. general assembly was nice enough to reach out to us with and welcome us onto their campus and allow us the opportunity to use their space to host an event. at first, i was pretty skeptical about doing this event. i honestly didn't know where to begin as I have never taught a class before nor did I think anyone would even show up. as time passed, i gave it some more thought and decided to just go through with it. it's an opportunity worth trying. a challenge, yes. i wanted to put together a morning talk with a few of the members of the Mighty Killers Explore squad with the intent to inspire and motivate, that was the goal. as soon as the announcement went live for the event, the numbers for the sign up list left me speechless. when i was thinking, "okay, hopefully we get at least 10-20 people in there, that would be amazing."  we ended with over 100 people signed up and the turn out was just amazing. as nerve-wracking as it was to be up in front of a crowd that big was death to me. i hate public speaking. writing is so much easier, i can backspace and re-type.. as many times as i want. when you're live in front of an audience, when you fuck up, they all see it. but as soon as we kicked things off, i felt way more at ease for the fact that I was up there speaking from experience and my heart. these people are here to learn about the brand. a brand that i know better than anybody else because i started it. how can i mess that up?

i couldn't be more proud of my team up there. it was amazing to see them share their passion and their experiences. even though i was on the panel sitting up front, i was too a student, learning. overall, this was a huge step forward and definitely an experience i would remember forever. getting to shake hands with all these people after the talk was crazy. knowing that we all were able to inspire these guys individually in so many different ways brings me to a whole new level of feeling accomplished in what i set out to do. truly a blessing. thank you all who came out.

Photo contributed by: Andy To