Author Archives: Content Catnip

Every picture tells a story: Rainbow neon street scene in Asakusa

Here’s another photo I took strolling around at night in Asakusa in Tokyo. In these little alleys, there is an air of intimate and cosy homeliness, I guess this is thanks to the locals. On a micro scale, these alleys had a really neighbourly and friendly vibe, this is completely contrary to what I thoughtContinue reading “Every picture tells a story: Rainbow neon street scene in Asakusa”

Every picture tells a story: Cutsey pancake van in Shinjuku

Like most things in Tokyo, I had only a vague notion of what the hell was going on here. It looks like a pancake van on cute steroids. Apparently to sell anything the best way to do it is to go over level 9000 on cuteness, sexiness or sexy cuteness. Anything less is totally pointless.Continue reading “Every picture tells a story: Cutsey pancake van in Shinjuku”

Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park

Yeonmi Park has to be the bravest girl/woman in the world. She was born in the North Korean city of Hyesan which is separated by a river to the Chinese border and at the age of 13, she boldly and bravely managed to escape from there and gain her freedom. Yeonmi Park’s autobiography written at theContinue reading “Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park”

Mushrooming in New Zealand: a cautionary tale

This evening we went walking on Mount Kaukau and found some mushrooms. Although in New Zealand there isn’t much of a mushrooming culture here compared to Europe. In the past, foreigners have died as a result of poisonous mushrooms in NZ. So many local people just leave mushrooms well alone here, scared away by timesContinue reading “Mushrooming in New Zealand: a cautionary tale”

Every picture tells a story: In every neon alley, a world

In every dark alleyway there’s a new world to discover in Tokyo filled with tiny izakayas, strangely named bars and vending machines. It’s possible to never go down the same street twice or ever become bored of new and interesting things to see and do. The hidden danger is that when you leave, it willContinue reading “Every picture tells a story: In every neon alley, a world”

Today is the day that terrorism came to New Zealand

I was just thinking the other day how innocent, easy-going and care-free New Zealand feels when you walk around in Wellington, compared to cities in Australia. I was thinking how much safer New Zealand feels, at least for me, compared to Australia. Today is the day that terrorism and its associated paranoia, fear and senseContinue reading “Today is the day that terrorism came to New Zealand”

Travel: Weird subway ads in Japan

On a recent trip to Japan I took mountains of footage.  Advertising is totally out of this world and so I created this homage to Japanese ads, on trains, JR stations, the streets and so on. I created these gifs with colour distortion to properly convey the feelings you have in situ. Initially,  after aContinue reading “Travel: Weird subway ads in Japan”