In catching up yesterday, missed what I was actually up to yesterday, visiting Otaru. The obvious day trip from Sapporo is obvious and is a pretty neat place. 24mm lens working well for both landscape and aquariums!

Anyway, I the last few days have gone from Tokyo (read Akihabara) to do a lap of Hokkaido to now end up in Sapporo for a few days. Akihabara is still cool.

Either I didn't notice as much the first time, or Japan has really gone to town in the last year in personifing things.

(yes three of the examples are in the same city, but I've seen more, even Akiba Softmap has one now, that one is long overdue mind)

So in this and my trip to Japan last year, I saw a lot of temples. Suguksa in the morning when the sun hits the front of the building is the winner, it literally glows in a way that the photos can't convey.

Temple staff seemed happy that a tourist had come early to appreciate their temple!

Korea Tip: While food is not as cheap as Japan, if you pay what you think is a normal amount for a meal in the UK, you get enough food and drink for two people. Up shot of this is I have half a bottle of Soju left to help put me back to sleep!

Some may say Namsan is an overrated tourist trap, and they are probably right. But it has its moments. (and getting there really isn't as bad I thought)

First impression of Seoul: Lights are pretty

Landing with the subtlety of a scud missile, the new National Security Strategy of the US has quite a lot to say about Europe and Europeans, writes Sean Whelan rte.ie/b/1547676

"And The World Did Nothing?" Child From 2040 Reading Up About Starvation Of Gaza Asks Teacher https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2025/08/22/and-the-world-did-nothing-child-from-2040-reading-up-about-starvation-of-gaza-asks-teacher/

Also while I'm in a mood to actually post things, right before Le Mans I had my own race, much shorter thanks to my alternator literally letting the smoke out, but very fun for the 8 minutes it lasted.. Mallory is criminally underrated for low powered cars like ours youtu.be/gymLBj704OM

Le Mans was way too hot, and my trip planning may have had fundemental flaws, but it is always a good time. I got some surprisingly good still, might make up for some iffy video I shot. I'll be turning that into an edit in the next few days so we'll see what I get out of it.

Politicians shouldn't rage-bait chart geeks. on.ft.com/4jrlz8h

This shouldn’t be some sort of amazing novelty. Must of us “car folk” like the engineering of vehicles and the pleasure of driving.
We don’t like sitting in traffic or having to drive every time we want to commute or perform some mundane chore. We want it as an enjoyable pastime.

Two things learned from the first day in Berlin. 1. The Reichstag dome is still worth visiting after dark. 2. The night mode on the 90D isn't bad for point-and-shoot when you don't have the patience to do it properly.