Kind of a hoot to be in the mix of a bustling city with events firing off at different corners throughout the waking hours. Coming from a quiet nook of the west coast, this cultural mashup was is a bit of the draw in my migration eastward.

Something I look forward to each year is the run of Lunar New Year events. 2025 falls on the year of the snake starting on the 29th of January and as always events extend out into the following two weeks. Traditional dances and performances alongside fireworks take up most of these spaces.

Here’s a few images from Queens Museum and The Queens Botanical Garden:

On the art side I’ve been able to drop into Chelsea Galleries, The Guggenheim, Pioneer Works. What stood out was Sonia Delauney’s work and influence during the era of Orphism in France. It was impressive reading up on her contribution to the movement during the early 1900s.

Pioneer Works currently has a few exhibitions up and one by Yehwan Song digital media works blending moving pictures, still images, and graphic design. I’m not an art historian or critic, but I’ll have to say it’s amongst the most engaging works I’ve seen to start the year.

I kicked off the New Year in Tokyo, then ventured south toward the island of Kyushu, with a detour to the Philippines for some surfing and a wedding along the way.

Japan is by far the most efficient and adventurous country I’ve had the privilege of experiencing. On this trip I took trains, flights, and even hopped in a van southward with an old friend.

A few weeks in advance, my friend Rimo invited me to participate in an art fair in Tokyo his publishing company was involved with. Had a blast creating a catalog of images along with my friends from Europe, NYC, and LA. 

Of course, the food was a highlight. Osaka and Fukuoka are top-tier cities for their culinary prowess. Although I’ve ate my way through Osaka a few times (including on this trip) I got to explore Fukuoka’s vibrant food scene full of things I’ve had in Tokyo, but a little different and ‘better’. Another mid expanding stop was Kobe where my buddy Jack and I had a steakhouse dinner and stocked up on Kobe beef for our road-trip south. Just 45 minutes by train from Osaka, Kobe proved to be a worth while detour.

As we made our way south driving through Awaji Island we stopping by some Tadao Ando structures. Japan’s landscape is dotted with incredible structures, and Tadao and Kengo Kuma are two architects in Japan that you’ll hear of often.

This journey also brought me to Hiroshima for the first time. There was something eerily quiet about the place, like a distant memory. The wide streets and modern developments gave it a European ambiance, but on a smaller, quieter scale. Hiroshima doesn’t have a ton of well known attractions besides the Peace Dome, but I’m glad I got to check it off my list. I think I’ll return in the warmer months to experience it in a new light.

And then there were the onsens and sentos. After a long layover on the way to Manila, my buddy Joey and I found a hidden gem at the Niigata airport—an on-site sento where we soaked in the warm waters, the perfect remedy to kill time between flights. On the other side of Japan’s bathing cuture, Beppu provided much needed warmth of sulfuric hot springs. The cream of the crop was a mud bathhouse just up the hill outside of town near what are known as the ‘Hells of Beppu.’

All in all, this winter trip ranked high up there in my trips to the islands. Mostly because I got to explore the southern islands by way of van. Although winter roadtrip isn’t so ideal, it was a blast to go South West in Japan and experience something new aside from the run of the mill Tokyo trip.

I’ve been to the Philippines once for a media project in Manila and it was underwhelming to say the least. 

This time around, I had a friend tie the knot and I got to see the city through a different lens. Still a tad bit underwhelming, it was nice to team up with a few friends for meals and late nights out in Manila. 

After a long flight from Tokyo with a connection in Niigata, my buddy Joey and I landed in the Manila. The first portion of the trip was spent in La Union where I got to catch up with an old friend from NYC and clock a few days of surfing in. All in all it was a breath of fresh air to clock in some time in the tropical waters of the Philippines.

Here’s a few iPhone photos from the week long charade.

If you’ve never known, well now you know.

As of covid times, I’ve been revisiting an old hobby from my teenage years.

Making surfboards that float is easy. Making surfboards that go straight is easy. Making surfboards for friends isn’t sooo hard. But making things for yourself can be hard as you can be your own worst critic. 

However, it’s been a fun side project and practice for my own well being. Walking hours around a shape bay and working with tools is actually a fairly healthy exercise. Happy to get all my steps in and manifest ideas into creation. 

Here’s a few boards I built in California as of late: