Fireworks Tonight in Kobe

Summer fireworks season is sweeping Japan. Tis hot, humid and time to sit outside with friends, beer, and pyrotechnics! Across Japan, every summer, people enjoy "hanabi" はなび which means fireworks. What is so great about hanabi is the fact that even small cities have very elaborate displays. Another great thing about the firework displays in Japan is the party atmosphere that goes with them. Many folks go with the school of though, "Why should I enjoy fireworks alone when I can enjoy them with booze!?"

During the previous two summers, my wife and I enjoyed the Kobe Fireworks from in front of Kobe Gakuin University 神戸学院大学 on Port Island in Kobe 神戸. This year however, we have a newborn baby. We will be watching the fireworks from our balcony and should have a good view. I will take some video later this evening to show all you folks out there. I have to admit that I am very excited to be watching fireworks for the first time with my son!

I am also pretty pleased today because I posted Episode 4 of my new podcast "Looks Like Canada." In episode 4 I looks at Popular and Weird Canadian Summer Festivals!


You can listen to/download the episode on the website (Looks Like Canada) or subscribe to the podcast directly on iTunes.



Although I will have new footage of this year's Kobe fireworks up online tomorrow, here is some footage from last year's fireworks for all of you to enjoy. I think this was before I bought my HD camera so bear with the quality!

The weekend is here!

Another hot weekend. Check out my latest video. Last weekend there was a motorcycle show on Port Island in Kobe. I am honestly not into motorcycles very much, but I do appreciate a beautiful machine when I see one. I took some footage with my iPhone.



Also, my new podcast, "Looks Like Canada" is now available in the iTunes store. Subscribing on iTunes is the easiest way to get the newest episodes. Episode 3 should be out tomorrow evening.

Looks Like Canada Episode Two is worth a listen

Hey folks. Hope everyone is well out there. Kobe is hot. Kobe is very hot. When I say hot, I don't mean sexy hot. I mean, sweat your ass off hot. This summer is especially muggy and nasty! The cicadas are ear-piercing, the sweat towels are out in full force and every Japanese woman is packin their parasol!

I just wanted everyone to know that episode two of "Looks Like Canada" is online.

My new podcast takes a look at the AMAZING Canadian food....poutine!

Check out the latest episode of my podcast here!


Thanks a bunch folks.

Expect another great You Tube video coming this weekend. I accidentally stumbled across a custom motorcycle show last weekend while out for a walk. I filmed some of it with my iPhone.

Looks Like Canada: the Podcast

It is finally up and online. My latest project and one I will continue post-Japan (not leaving soon).


Looks Like Canada is a podcast about all things Canadian. It will be about Canadian history, food and culture. Looks Like Canada will be hosted by myself and sometimes I may conduct interviews or have guests. I will upload a new episode weekly and once the summer is over, I will upload on a strict schedule (of course with a newborn at home now it is hard to follow any schedule!).



Episode One is about the Canadian running icon, Johnny Miles. You can download the show or listen to it in your browser with Quicktime.

Looks Like Canada will be up on the iTunes store soon I hope.

Take car and check out my latest media project.

Things coming together

Hello one and all. Things in Kobe, Japan are sweaty and hot. That's right! We are in the midst of a heat wave here in japan and apparently it has already sent many folks to the hospital and a few to the grave!

As for good ole Kevin, i am busy with my newborn son. My little fella was born almost two weeks ago at Kobe General Hospital. he is very handsome, healthy and happy. He is also quite a handful for my wife and I! I suppose that is normal for any newborn baby and two first-time parents. It is a learning process that books and websites didn't prepare me for. I am learning though and enjoying it. I am also appreciating how much of a commodity time is. It is hard to get work done on my many media projects, but I am finding the time somehow.

I talk about that in my latest little video blog.

The project I am trying to get up and moving is something that I have been wanting to pursue for several years. I have put together a podcast. I put a lot of thought into the topic and I wanted it to be something I could do for a long time. I also wanted to create a podcast that would be relevant to me long after I had left Japan and moved either back to Canada or elsewhere.

This year marks more than eight years living abroad for me in Asia. With so much time living in other countries and being surrounded by other cultures, it has made me long for, appreciate and want to learn more about my own country. That's why my podcast will be about Canadian history, culture and food. No matter where I am in the world, I know that the topics will remain relevant to me!

The first episode is in the can and episode two will be finished this weekend. the website is almost up and running (it will be a constant work in progress though). I have also realized that I need to invest in a decent microphone, but I will do that in time and if people show an interest in the show!

Things will go live this weekend I hope, but having a newborn baby can often cause sudden changes to schedule!

When the podcast does go up, I will inform you all here, on Twitter and You Tube!

Waiting for Fatherhood and Honest Sumo Guys

Many things have been going on in the world of Kevin. The school term is coming to a close and the hectic month of June is a thing of the past. Report cards, parent-teacher meetings and student portfolios are all but a thing of the past. The only thing to do now is sit and wait for my little whipper-snapper to come along. As I write this post, my son is a few days late on arriving into the world. We are of course beside ourselves with excitement and nervousness waiting for his arrival!

In other news, the world of Sumo Wrestling in Japan has been turned on it's head with a major gambling scandal:

NHK decides not to broadcast sumo live due to gambling scandal
TOKYO - Public broadcaster NHK will not televise the July 11 to 25 Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament live due to a gambling scandal that has hit a number of sumo wrestlers and elders, NHK Chairman Shigeo Fukuchi said Tuesday.

Fukuchi said NHK decided not to broadcast the sumo tournament to be held at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium live, but, instead, to air the digest version of recorded sumo matches on TV and report the results of the matches on radio.

It is first time for NHK not to air a sumo tournament live on television in its history of broadcasting of sumo tourneys which started in 1953. The broadcaster started airing the events on radio in 1928.

Fukuchi said the broadcaster’s decision reflects viewers’ severe opinions on the gambling scandal rocking the ancient national sport.

‘‘The Japan Sumo Association has yet to present concrete steps for its reform,’’ he said. ‘‘At the same time, we have received a number of severe opinions from viewers. We have made a comprehensive and careful decision.’‘

‘‘We urge (the sumo association) to work for prompt reform of the organization,’’ he added.

About 70% of those who contacted NHK on the gambling scandal by Tuesday said they wanted it to cancel coverage of the tournament, according to NHK.

Acting JSA Chairman Hiroyoshi Murayama and other officials of the sumo governing body visited NHK’s headquarters office in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward Tuesday to ask the public broadcaster to show the upcoming sumo tournament on television.

At a meeting with the NHK chairman, the officials from the sumo association explained the body’s decision on Sunday to fire ozeki Kotomitsuki and stablemaster Otake and to impose other punishments on wrestlers and elders for being involved in gambling on professional baseball games which is alleged to be a funding source for gangsters.

They also vowed to implement measures to prevent a recurrence of the situation.

NHK made the decision not to air the event live after hearing what the JSA officials had to say.

Commercial TV stations used to air the digest of sumo tournaments in the past, but currently, NHK is the only broadcaster that airs the sumo events live.

According to NHK, it received opinions from about 11,100 viewers on the matter between June 14, when it began tallying them, and Sunday, with 68% expressing opposition to broadcasting the Nagoya tourney against 11% in favor of the coverage.
Read original at Japan Today


My desire to get into the world of podcasting has come back. I have been thinking a lot these days about a podcast I'd like to start (especially on my long runs at night) and the technical side of getting it up and running. I think it would be a new and fun media hobby to get involved in. When will I have the time to put things together? Good question. I think I will start building on my ideas and hopefully have something up and running this summer. If I run with the idea I have now, my podcast would be about a non-Japan one. I would probably focus more on Canada and other cultures. There are already some great podcasts about Japan and I don't want to paint myself into a corner. I want to give myself more options and a much larger potential audience. Recently, a viewer of my You Tube videos complained. He said that I should talk more about Japanese history in my videos. I told him that my channel isn't about Japan. It is about me! I just happen to live in Japan. I don't solely blog about Japan. I am a blogger/vlogger and Japan just happens to be my current, but not permanent backdrop!


RANDOM PICTURE TIME

Took this picture last week on a train platform! Loved it and was disgusted with the possibilities!

You Tube Scavenger Hunt: Japan

For quite some time I have been wanting to do a serious collaboration video with someone I met online several years ago, John Pham. He is a Chicago based vlogger and online goes by the handle phampants. In recent months I have also become familiar with a Melbourne, Australia based vlogger, tezziToo. The three of us decided to do a series of videos together. i would be lying if I took credit for the concept. I mentioned to John that I wanted to make a video together, but he came up with the idea.

Free time is a fleeting thing for me. I am sitting here in my Kobe, Japan apartment waiting for the arrival of my first child. he's going to be here any time. He'll probably be here later in the week if not next weekend. With his arrival, I will probably say goodbye to the thing we call free time. My friends with children tell me that until I get my parent "groove on" and get used to the routines of being a parent, free time is all but a thing of the past.

That is precisely the reason I wanted to do this collaboration video with these two other vloggers. Although I have enjoyed video blogging "vlogging" for the past 4 years, I realize that soon, time to do so will be rare. One "rockin" collab before my hiatus was my goal.

Myself (Busan Kevin), phampants and tezziToo decided to make a scavenger hun of sorts. We gave each other five things to find in our respective cities. They were completely open to interpretation.


Here are the final products and I have to admit that I think they were all awesome!

You Tube Scavenger Hunt: Japan



You Tube Scavenger Hunt: America



You Tube Scavenger Hunt: Australia

Go Samurai Blue

The end of June is upon us and summer is here. It is officially rainy season I Japan, but to be honest, it rains about the same amount as I recall from growing up on the East Coast of Canada. Rainy Season in Japan basically means that it rains once or twice a week. Nothing remarkable at all!

One thing that is remarkable however is the fact that Team Japan "Samurai Blue" beat Denmark early this morning 3-1 and secured a spot in the final 16 at the World Cup in South Africa. As of this morning, Japan is no officially the Land of the Fairweather Fan! Two weeks ago, you'd be hard pressed to find any one in Japan who cared about Team Japan or had anything good to say about them at all. Most folks here were simply dismissing them without a thought! That has now of course changes and I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to buy an official Team Japan jersey in any sports shop.


Keisuke Honda has emerged as a star player for Team Japan. This cat is going to make boat loads of endorsement cash and deservedly so.

In other news, I am going to be a father any day now. This is a stressful time of course and any first time parent will agree that that is a natural thing. I suppose that if I wasn't nervous, something would be odd! Although I realize I haven't been especially dedicated to keeping this blog current, I may take an even more dramatic lapse from online life once the little one is here. I plan to post a video later on the weekend on You Tube, but aside from that, I think my online habits will change.


In completely other news, I thought the recent allegations on CBC news from the director of CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) were pretty interesting. he claims that the Chinese government (spy agencies) have direct influence over a number of Canadian politicians on a municiple and provncial level. These allegations have of course enraged the Chinese community, but it gets more spy thriller-like when several well known security and intelligence analysts say that these are not allegations, but very true things!

Read about here:
CSIS comments anger Chinese community

Car Shows and Cafe Latte

It has been a dog's age and a half since I have made a post. For that; I am sorry. Last month was a vlog fest for Kevin. I had promised my You Tube viewers that I would post a vlog everyday for the month of May and I did. I can honestly say that while it was fun to do (most of the time), I am happy May is now complete.

Many things have been going on since then. Mostly, work. I have been working six days a week, going to Japanese class and running a lot. I have basically had very little time to decompress. Also, my wife and I are expecting our first child any week/day now. He will be here by the end of the month or the beginning of July. It is a very exciting time for sure!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a great day to hang out with my wife, do some shopping and talk about the great things we plan to do with our little one once he arrives.



Enjoyed an iced latte at Excelsior Coffee in Kobe (near Chinatown) yesterday. Normally I go to Starbucks, but the shop was too crowded to get a seat. The Excelsior Coffee next door had plenty of seats. I suppose that might be a reflection on the coffee? It still tasted pretty good to me!



In the morning I went for my Sunday morning long run around Kobe. Luckily I had my iPhone packed away with me. I stumbled across the "Extreme Custom Car Show" along the waterfront her in Kobe. Although I am not really interested in cars, I have to admit, there were some pretty damn cool bikes and cars here! I also found it pretty weird that most of the Japanese guys who own the custom cars have adopted a Hispanic gangster look!

Here are a few shots of the cars I saw and a video I posted!

Rain Rain and More Rain

My wife tells me that the rainy season in the Kansai region of Japan will start soon. I disagree with her. I tell her that it already started more than a month ago. Why else would it rain four to five days a week? Apparently I am wrong. it is raining a lot, but the wet stuff falling now has nothing to do with the official rainy season. It's just a precursor!

I'm sitting at home early on a Monday morning enjoying a cup of coffee and doing something I normally never have a chance to do on a weekday morning. I'm writing a blog. What has caused this change in routine? My school has been closed for the day due to heavy rainfall warnings in the area. It is indeed raining cats, dogs and maybe some sheep. It was as well yesterday.

So, let's get to some news in Japan and Korea that I find a little interesting!

Police ask Kotomitsuki to explain baseball gambling report

TOKYO - The Metropolitan Police Department met with sumo wrestler Kotomitsuki on Saturday over a recent report in a weekly magazine that said he is in heavy debt from gambling related to professional baseball games, police officials said Saturday. Police asked the ozeki, the second-highest rank next to the grand champion yokozuna, for explanation about the contents of the article, according to the officials. Read more at Japan Today

This guy is an ozeki which is the second highest ranking fighter in sumo in Japan. He is a very high profile athlete in these parts. he also looks like a giant bird with massive breasts! I love sumo guys!



Check out this odd, yet fun story over at Japan Probe.

100 Animals in One Small Apartment


Of course everyone knows by now that those trouble making rascals, the North Koreans were responsible for the sinking of the South Korean corvette, the Choenan. They torpedoes it. They are true A-Holes....them North Koreans!

S. Korea takes ship sinking case to UN
The South Korean government, which accuses North Korea of sinking one of its warships, said Sunday it's taking its case against Pyongyang to the United Nations Security Council.

A senior government official in Seoul suggested the South will likely push for international agreement for the existing sanctions against the North to be strengthened. There are reports unilateral measures will also be announced.

"We are focusing on diplomatic means of punishment as we found out that existing sanctions and resolutions are not enough," the official told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. "It is time to decide whether we go over to another step."

An international team of investigators announced last week that the evidence pointed to a North Korean submarine having fired a homing torpedo on March 26, tearing apart the 1,200-tonne Cheonan and killing 46 sailors on board.
Read More at CBC.CA