IKIMASHO!

Back in Japan

January 7, 2016 by joostay

After 10 months and 10 countries I’m back living in Tokyo for a while! I originally left because I wanted to see more of Asia and the world, and I’m grateful I got to see so many amazing places and meet some great people in 2015. My first stop was Thailand where I stayed with my friends Allan & Fanfan in Isaan near the Cambodian border. From there I flew to Kathmandu in Nepal where I was involved in the earthquake, […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, design, ikimasho, japan, northern ireland

Escape to Izu: Jogasaki Coast

December 30, 2015 by joostay

Disclaimer: this post contains unnecessary navel-gazing and anal flowery descriptors such as ‘turquoise-blue’. If you’re OK with that, read on. Tokyo is an odd beast. A month-or-so ago I wrote of my need to escape the city – packing a bag and head…

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, ikimasho, izu, japan, japanese, shibuya, tokyo, travel

Tōryanse / 通りゃんせ

December 28, 2015 by joostay

Let me pass. Let me pass.
How a sinister-sounding children’s tune can help you cross the road in Japan.

Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: culture, japan, kids, lullaby, school, tokyo, tradional music

IKIMASHO! x DAZED: HOW SURGICAL MASKS BECAME A FASHION STATEMENT

December 28, 2015 by joostay

Disease control or beauty enhancement? Unpicking the long-standing Japanese trend of covering the face in public. My final published article of 2015 is for DAZED – talking about the continued use of surgical masks in Japan. Whatever the reason for wearing them – be it health, fashion, or both – masks are now embodied in Japanese and Asian culture, and show no signs of going anywhere soon. You can read the full article here.

Categories: Art, Music & Culture

IKIMASHO! x ACCLAIM

December 23, 2015 by joostay

My Disposable Japan series is featured in ACCLAIM this month. Check it out here.

Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: 35mm, blog, disposable, film, hiroshima, ikimasho, japan, japanese, photography, tokyo, travel

Laundry & Lunch: Suburban local life in Tokyo, Japan.

December 13, 2015 by joostay

The little old lady barely visible in the photo above owns a coin laundry just down the road from my house. She lives quietly on the left, while ageing washing machines and driers rattle noisily to the right. Every morning at 7.30 I pass her on my…

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, japan, living in japan, setagaya, shimokitazawa, simple, tokyo, travel, urban

DISPOSABLE JAPAN #2

December 11, 2015 by joostay

Random images from Japan taken with a disposable camera 2003/04 [click to scroll] DISPOSABLE JAPAN #1

Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: art, asia, blog, culture, design, ikimasho, japan, japanese, photography, se asia, south east asia, tokyo, travel, urban

DISPOSABLE JAPAN #1

November 28, 2015 by joostay

Random images from Japan taken with a disposable camera 2003/04 I lived in the south of Japan for one year in 2003. I didn’t own a mobile phone and would keep a list of phone numbers in my pocket in case I needed to use a payphone. I also didn’t own a digital camera, so all the photos I took were with disposable cameras which I would process at the end of the month. Some of these photos I hadn’t looked at in […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, ikimasho, kyushu, photography, travel

In Pictures: Colombo, Sri Lanka.

November 19, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, city, colombo, ikimasho, japan, photography, se asia, sri lanka, street, tokyo, urban

IKIMASHO! x DAZED: 10 ALTERNATIVE GALLERIES IN TOKYO

November 17, 2015 by joostay

Shizuka Yokomizo’s “Untitled (Kurogo)”, 2015 Happy to have my first article published in DAZED, outlining some of the best alternative galleries in Tokyo. Read here.

Categories: Art, Music & Culture

TWO YEARS WORTH OF FLIGHTS…

November 6, 2015 by joostay

Did you know that if you are using Chrome as your web browser and type “my flights” into Google it will bring up a list of all the flights you have booked via gmail over the past two years? I really didn’t think I had flown as much as I had, and my own list surprised me. When I moved to Tokyo three years ago I still had a bit of an itch to see parts of Asia I’d never seen, but I think I’ve achieved that […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: air travel, asia, bagan, dougal, flights, flying, girls, hardcore, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, japanese, java, mandalay, monks, myanmar, rave, se asia, sumatra, toba, tokyo, train, travel, vibes, video, yangon

Connections ( 繋がり)

November 5, 2015 by joostay

[Kyoto, Japan] x [Portavoe Reservoir, Northern Ireland] [Bali, Indonesia] x [Bangor, Northern Ireland] First in a series of images I want to create exploring the idea of ‘home’; the connection between my travels and my hometown.

Categories: Art, Music & Culture

Portavoe Reservoir, County Down, Northern Ireland

November 2, 2015 by joostay

Like IKIMASHO! on Facebook

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: animals, bangor, country down, environment, nature, northern ireland, photography, travel, uk

Living a simple life in Phetchaburi, Thailand.

October 18, 2015 by joostay

Quiet days. Simple food. And Monks playing hide & seek…

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, buddhism, countryside, ikimasho, japan, monks, Phetchaburi, photography, religion, rural, se asia, temples, thailand, tokyo, town, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Ascott Waterplace, Surabaya, Indonesia.

October 16, 2015 by joostay

A room with a view… Taking time to unwind after climbing Kawah Ijen volcano.

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: ascott waterplace, asia, blog, boutique, five star, hotel, indonesia, japan, java, luxury, photography, review, surabaya, tokyo, travel, urban

INSECTS OF ISAAN

October 12, 2015 by joostay

For the past week I have been living in the small village of Broken Road in Nang Rong, Isaan. Isaan is Thailand’s largest region bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east (along the border with Laos), and by Cambodia to the southeast. (Roughly speaking, the larger red circle on the map above represents the whole of Isaan, while the smaller solid circle is where I have been staying.) I’m visiting my friends Allan & Fanfan for the second […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: animals, ants, asia, bangkok, blog, butterflies, caterpillers, countryside, creatures, fauna, flora, ikimasho, insects, japan, japanese, moths, nature, photography, se asia, spiders, thailand, tokyo, travel

Climbing Kawah Ijen Volcano, Java, Indonesia.

October 8, 2015 by joostay

Taking steps in my own life – and meeting the sulphur miners who risk theirs every day. After being involved in the earthquake in Kathmandu in April, I have to admit that for a few months afterwards I was slightly on edge. The five days I spent in the city pre-evacuation caused my brain to be in a constant state of heightened alert. Even after I arrived home in Northern Ireland, if a truck drove past my house and shook the building my heart rate […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: adventure, asia, CREATIVE, earthquake, extreme, humans, ijen, indonesia, japan, nature, photography, tokyo, travel, video, volcano, wildlife

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Villa Sabandari, Ubud, Bali

October 6, 2015 by joostay

Two days of blissfully doing nothing in Bali’s cultural capital

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bali, boutique, CREATIVE, design, holiday, hotel, ikimasho, inaka, indonesia, interior design, japan, luxury, nature, photography, review, rice fields, se asia, tokyo, travel, ubud, video, wildlife

HELLRIDES: SURABAYA (INDONESIA) TO NANG RONG (THAILAND)

October 5, 2015 by joostay

From Java to Isaan – and remembering an 830-mile Hellride to see AC/DC in 2001.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, CREATIVE, flight, ikimasho, indonesia, isaan, japan, japanese, java, overland, photography, plane, se asia, thailand, travel, video

IKIMASHO! IN THE FINAL FOR BEST TRAVEL BLOG (+ OCTOBER TRAVEL PLANS)

September 30, 2015 by joostay

❤ THANK YOU! / ありがとう! ❤ IKIMASHO! has made it through to the final for Best Travel Blog in this year’s Blog Awards Ireland. Thank you to everyone who voted for me! I guess now it’s a case of whether the judges go for a straight down-the-line entry or my oddball stuff. To be honest, despite there being a number of great travel blogs out there, there are also far too many generic sites around today: the whole scene is swamped with people […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bali, CREATIVITY, festival, ijen, indonesia, photography, se asia, thailand, travel, video, writing

SRI LANKA: PUNK ROCK BUSES vs. DRUM AND BASS TRAINS

September 27, 2015 by joostay

How different types of transport can influence the tunes you listen to…

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bus, colombo, CREATIVE, CREATIVITY, dnb, drum and bass, fitness, huntingtons, ikimasho, japan, kandy, photography, pop punk, punk, punk rock, screeching weasel, se asia, seba, sri lanka, the queers, tokyo, train, travel, video

MY CRAPPY INDONESIAN GYM JUST GOT CRAPPIER

September 24, 2015 by joostay

SAY HELLO TO COCONUT! Followers of this blog will by now be well aware of my fondness for tracking down crappy local gyms in new countries I visit. It all started when I visited Nusa Lembongan in 2013 – an island off the coast of Bali. During my stint there I found a hilariously bad (yet amazing) gym which was basically just a wooden shack. Fast forward a few years and I was back on Lembongan last week, so of […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bali, bodybuilding, coconut, fitness, funny, gym, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, mens fitness, photography, running, story, tokyo, travel, weightlifting, weights, working out, workout

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Landesi by Jetwing, Galle, Sri Lanka

September 23, 2015 by joostay

Exploring Galle with classic colonial style, cricket and Jungle music. Apart from a quick stopover in Negombo in order to make an early-morning flight, the historic fort city of Galle was my last stop on my three-week Sri Lankan itinerary. The trip from Mirissa was painless, my local bus taking under an hour as it belted along the palm-fringed coast. After having already stayed in three impressive Jetwing properties, this was to be my fourth, and once again it didn’t […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: architecture, asia, blog, CREATIVE, design, drum and bass, galle, hotel, ikimasho, interior design, japan, mirissa, photography, review, se asia, sri lanka, tokyo, travel, video

Taman Festival: Abandoned Theme Park in Bali, Indonesia

September 21, 2015 by joostay

Exploring the Indonesian theme park with no visitors – not living ones anyway… Right now I’m back on mainland Bali after spending a week on the small island of Lembongan off the east coast. During my time on the island I spoke a few times to a local guy called Niko about ghosts and Indonesian folklore: I specifically wanted to learn about the Pontianak – vampiric ghosts which are said to be the spirits of women who died while pregnant. (The city of […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: abandoned, bali, bizarre, CREATIVE, ghost hunting, ghosts, haikyo, indonesia, old, photography, sanur, spirits, street, taman festival park, travel, unusual, urban, urban exploration, video

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Villa Atulya at Ocean’s Edge, Mirissa, Sri Lanka

September 18, 2015 by joostay

Sun. Sea. Sand. And a jaw-dropping villa to take it all in. With just one week left of my three-week Sri Lankan adventure, I decided to leave Central Province and head for the south. On this trip there were so many places I didn’t get a chance to see; there just wasn’t enough time. In the end though, I’m glad I took things slow as it meant I got a better appreciation of local life and Sri Lankan hospitality. I didn’t see Ella, and I […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, hotel, mirissa, review, se asia, sri lanka, travel

Rejecting the Cliché: Sunset over Mirissa, Sri Lanka

September 17, 2015 by joostay

A fisherman makes his last catch of the day as his wife looks on from the shore In travel photography circles, sunsets get a bad rap – widely considered as overdone and clichéd. The chances of taking a shot that’s different to the millions of others is slim, yet when the sun begins to set and the colours fill the sky most of us feel compelled to take out our camera. Photography means recording beautiful light. And sunsets are all about beautiful, […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, beauty, buddhism, CREATIVE, japan, mirissa, nature, photography, se asia, sea, seascape, sunset, tokyo, travel, video

SRI LANKAN DEATH NOTES

September 15, 2015 by joostay

One thing that surprised me on my recent trip to Sri Lanka was the vast amount of Death Notices I saw while walking around small villages. These notes are a Sri Lankan tradition, originally introduced  as a way for local people to learn about recent deaths in the area, much like obituary notices in today’s western newspapers. In some rural areas, telephone and digital communications have only recently been introduced, so these physical notices proved to be a useful asset. It was the first time I […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, culture, death, funeral, ghosts, japan, photography, sri lanka, story, tokyo, travel, urban

HELLRIDES: KUALA LUMPUR (MALAYSIA) TO NUSA LEMBONGAN (BALI)

September 14, 2015 by joostay

Back to Bali – and escaping the End of Days. I’ve written a bit before about Hellrides – those horribly twisted and depraved long-distance drives my old band used to do every night in order to play a farcical gig in front of no one. My touring days may be behind me, but travelling in Asia often means cramped conditions, squalid surroundings and not quite knowing if you’ll end up at your intended final destination. Not much change from playing on the DIY punk circuit then, […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: airplane, bali, belfast, boat, CREATIVE, dangerfields, hellride, indonesia, ireland, journey, northern ireland, photography, punk, punk rock, story, train, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Heritance Kandalama, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

September 11, 2015 by joostay

Have you ever wanted to stay in a five-star luxury tree house? Now you can. Did anyone actually have a tree house as a kid? The older I get, the more I think they were purely between the pages of Enid Blyton novels and the intros of coming-of-age 80s movies on TV. Deep down, I think everyone secretly wishes they had one though – a place to escape, looking down at the world below. So when I saw a picture […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, CREATIVE, dambulla, hotel, japan, monkeys, nature, photography, review, sri lanka, tokyo, travel, wildlife, writing

Inside a Sri Lankan Snooker Hall

September 10, 2015 by joostay

Where’s the cue ball going?! Becoming one of the lads with the Young Men’s Buddhist Association. As far as tourist destinations go, Galle is a major player in Sri Lanka: a town filled with Dutch-colonial buildings and classic architecture. The oh-so-quaint UNESCO Fort area is home to about 400 historic houses, churches and mosques – many of which date back hundreds of years. Inside the Fort you’ll see many nationalities of tourist, all on tours checking out the buildings etc. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, buddha, buddhism, colombo, CREATIVE, funny, galle, japan, photography, religion, snooker, sport, sri lanka, story, toyko, travel, video, YMBA

THE #1 RULE AS A TRAVEL WRITER

September 10, 2015 by joostay

If you’re a chef, the last thing you want to do is get a sledgehammer and smash up your oven. If you’re a taxi driver, the last thing you want to do is get a load of petrol, throw it all over your car and set it on fire. If you’re a travel writer, the last thing you want to do is pour a nice big cup of sugary coffee all over your netbook. Which is what I did the other day. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, photography, sri lanka, story, travel, travel writer, writing

PLEASE VOTE FOR IKIMASHO! AS ‘BEST TRAVEL BLOG’!

September 8, 2015 by joostay

❤ IKIMASHO! NEEDS YOUR HELP! ❤ IKIMASHO! has been shortlisted for ‘Best Travel Blog’ in this year’s Irish Blog Awards. 30% of the judging for this round is by public vote, so if you would be sooo kind to click the link below and vote for IKIMASHO! You don’t need to register, or give your name, or any of that stuff – just click the link and vote. Remember, IKIMASHO! is 100% my own travel experiences. I’m not a tour operator. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, awards, backpacking, blogging, CREATIVITY, drawing, japan, northern ireland, photography, tokyo, travel, video, writing

ON TOP OF THE WORLD: SIGIRIYA, SRI LANKA

September 7, 2015 by joostay

Climbing the ancient fortress-palace of Sigiriya – and the astonishing views from the top. After a good few days bumming about Kandy I caught a bus up to the Central Province of Sri Lanka to visit Sigiriya. (A/C bus from Kandy bus station to Dambulla 300 rupees/2 hours, then 20-minute tuk-tuk to Sigiriya.) UNESCO certified, Sigiriya is perhaps Sri Lanka’s most iconic sight: a huge sheer-walled rock that seems to appear out of nowhere. Its flat-topped summit contains the ruins […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 1200 steps, asia, backpacking, climbing sigiriya, ikimasho, japan, jungle, nature, photography, sigiriya, sri lanka, tokyo, travel, wildlife

TUK-TUK SAFARI!

September 2, 2015 by joostay

Midday in Central Province, Sri Lanka: 35 degrees and the sun is brutal. After spending the night in the middle of nowhere, I check out of my hotel and start walking down a dusty lane looking to hitch a ride back out on to the main road. I see a motorbike parked in the driveway of a house and go round the back to see if anyone is about. No such luck. Soon enough I spot a tuk-tuk bobbing up […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, central province, dambulla, drum and bass, nature, sigiriya, sri lanka, transport, travel, tuk tuk, wilderness

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Vil Uyana, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

August 31, 2015 by joostay

Eco Retreat? Nature Reserve? Luxury Resort? Jetwing Vil Uyana is all of these, and more… Truth be told, after being caught up in the earthquake in Nepal in April I was a little apprehensive about coming back to Asia. But I’ve been drawn to the region for the past ten years, and so it was only a matter of time before I jumped on a plane back East. Coming to Sri Lanka was the best decision I ever could have […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 5 star, animals, asia, backpacking, dambulla, design, endangered, five star, hotel, lizards, luxury, photography, resort, sirigiya, snakes, sri lanka, travel, video

My crappy Sri Lankan gym

August 29, 2015 by joostay

A Careless Whisper – and a lesson on the importance of chocolate.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, bodybuilding, city, fitness, gym, ikimasho, japan, kandy, keep fit, sri lanka, sri lankan, tokyo, travel

Kandy Esala Perahera 2015, Sri Lanka

August 27, 2015 by joostay

Walk with me through the streets of the most spectacular religious procession in Asia I absolutely love religious and cultural festivals in Asia. Last year I readjusted my schedule so that I could climb to the top of a volcano at midnight to witness the Yadnya Kasada sacrifices in Java, Indonesia. This year I made sure to time my Sri Lankan trip with the Kandy Esala Perahera – one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist festivals, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers, and […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Sea & Jetwing Beach, Negombo, Sri Lanka

August 24, 2015 by joostay

Sea. Check. Beach. Check. Boutique bliss at two of Negombo’s finest hotels. There’s never really been an easy way to get to Asia from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Skyscanner lured me in with a very good price to Sri Lanka (£270) but it was quite the hellride: a two-hour bus journey to Dublin; a three-hour wait; an hour-long flight to Heathrow (+ pick up my bag and re-checkin); another four-hour wait; then a turbulence-belting eleven-hour flight to Colombo. It was […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, boutique, food, ikimasho, japan, jetwing beach, jetwing hotels, jetwing sea, luxury, negombo, se asia, sri lanka, tokyo, travel

When only the streets remain. Bangor, Northern Ireland.

August 11, 2015 by joostay

A puzzling postcard – and how the ghosts of generations walk the streets of my home town. From a travel point of view this year has been pretty varied. I spent the first three months of the year finishing up a contract in Japan, then went to visit my friend near the Cambodian border in Isaan, Thailand. From there I flew to Nepal and was caught up in the earthquake in Kathmandu and subsequently evacuated back to the UK. In […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 1900s, bangor, blog, county down, ghosts, history, ikimasho, japan, northern ireland, nostalgia, old, photography, photos, pictures, postcards, puzzle, tokyo, war, world war 1, world war 2

IKIMASHO! x WANDERLUST [The World’s Lamest Gyms]

August 10, 2015 by joostay

“I asked how much the gym was and he told me he didn’t know. He said he just bought the owner petrol now and again. I told him I didn’t have any petrol so he said for me to just go in and use it for as long as I wanted. So in I went.” I’m in Wanderlust Magazine this month talking about some of the funniest gyms I’ve come across on my travels. Check it out here.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: bali, bangkok, blog, fitness, gyms, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, marrakech, morocco, thailand, tokyo, travel, working out

Smoke over Pashupatinath, Nepal.

August 6, 2015 by joostay

Out of the few pictures I took during and after the earthquake in Kathmandu, it is this one that stays with me. Pashupatinath Temple in the east of the city is well known for its ceremonial cremations, but following the disaster the temple could not keep up with the growing amount of bodies waiting to be burned. For three full days the air was filled with dense smoke rising from the dead, yet it was only when I went down […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: earthquake, kathmandu, nepal, restinpeace, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal

August 1, 2015 by joostay

My stay at the Dwarika’s Hotel is something I will never forget. I was a guest there when the earthquake hit 80km west of Kathmandu, and so for me the hotel holds special significance. The staff were incredible during the disaster; I simply cannot stress this enough. In fact, incredible isn’t a strong enough adjective to describe what they did. They put us above all else, even their own families. I will write about their kindness and humanitarianism in a separate […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan

Getting naked in Sweden

July 29, 2015 by joostay

A visit to Malmo’s Ribersborgs Kallbadhus. Getting down to the bare essentials in the Baltic Sea. I am bollock naked, staring out at the grey, choppy water before me. This ominous stretch of water is where the Baltic meets the North Sea, and as seagulls fly overhead and the smell of seaweed fills my lungs, I jump in. Instantly a rush of adrenaline flows through my system – an all-natural high caused by the release of dopamine and serotonin. I […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan

Torr Head Coastal Route, Northern Ireland.

July 28, 2015 by joostay

 

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: ballintoy, belfast, causeway coastal route, countryside, giant's causeway, ikimasho, northern ireland, photography, rural, travel

From Bangor to the world: The Hereford Mappa Mundi.

July 26, 2015 by joostay

How my small home town was once regarded as one of the most important places in the world. Having an interest in travel means I also have an interest in maps: the ongoing progression and evolution of how our planet is perceived. It’s amazing to think that at one time people’s knowledge of the earth was not so different than our own perception of space today: not exactly knowing what was out there. This curiosity drove explorers to go beyond […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: bangor, belfast, blog, church, county down, hereford, history, ikimasho, japan, map, mappa mundi, medieval, normans, northern ireland, tokyo, travel, uk, united kingdom

Marrakech or Meh-rrakech?

July 20, 2015 by joostay

Recently named the world’s best destination – yet I’m still trying to figure out why. I spent some time in Marrakech about a month ago but haven’t really written much about it. During my stay I was struck down with severe food poisoning for the first time in my life. I’ve had a mild case before, but this was something else: 10 hours of hardcore vomiting, delirious and generally festering about in my own filth. (At one point I was […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, arabic, asia, backpacking, city, culture, design, food, ikimasho, illness, japan, marrakech, morocco, north africa, photography, poisoning, tokyo, travel

The sleepy little town of Phetchaburi, Thailand.

July 1, 2015 by joostay

Monks, monkeys and mentalists… why these underdog towns will always reign supreme. As many people would attest, so often when you travel it’s the seemingly crappy little towns that leave the biggest impression: the nondescript two-bit places with no visitors, quietly going about their business, content not to make a fuss. Back in April I spent some time in Phetchaburi in Thailand – an unassuming agricultural town of just 25,000 about 160km south of Bangkok. Any visitors that do come […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, blogging, hot, ikimasho, monkeys, Phetchaburi, rural, se asia, south east asia, sunny, thailand, town, travel, urban, weather

Reflections: Living through the Nepal earthquake / Part 3, Camp Hope.

June 29, 2015 by joostay

Please contribute to Camp Hope & help those affected by disaster rebuild their lives. It’s been two months since the 7.8 magnitude earthquake left a profound trail of destruction in the villages surrounding Kathmandu, Kavre District and Sindulpalchowk – along with many other areas of central and western Nepal. To date, more than 8,000 lives have been lost with countless homes and villages destroyed. Small (unreported) aftershocks continue to hit the country, and so those who survived the disaster unfortunately still have to live in fear. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 25 april, aid, art, blog, charity, development, earthquake, fundraising, hotel, ikimasho, japan, kathmandu, nepal, schools, travel

Urban s̶p̶r̶a̶w̶l̶ scrawl: Belfast, Northern Ireland.

June 26, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Art, Music & Culture, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, belfast, creartivity, CREATIVE, design, grafitti, ikimasho, northern ireland, photography, STREET ART, travel, uk

Esglesia Parroquial de Sant Vincenç

June 22, 2015 by joostay

I was in Spain a few weeks back, walking about Tossa de Mar. I went into a church – Esglesia Parroquial de Sant Vincenç – and drew the image above while sitting there listening to the organ. No one else was in the church at the time. It was both relaxing and eery at the same time.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, church, CREATIVE, design, drawing, Esglesia Parroquial de Sant Vincenç, god, illustration, religion, saint vincent, spain, tossa de mar

Chilling in Tossa de Mar. How Spain’s Costa Brava killed my travel snob.

June 17, 2015 by joostay

Well, whad’ya know: Spain isn’t all just Brits on Tour & Butlins on steroids. When it comes to Spain I’ll admit I’ve always been a bit of travel snob. Visions of redfaced Brits eating egg and chips, hen parties with huge inflatable penises and drunken bastards singing the macarena. Growing up, I never had any real desire to go there, maintaining that you had to go further afield to get a ‘real’ travel experience, whatever that is. Of course, it was […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: backpacking, beauty, catalonia, costa brava, europe, food, ikimasho, japan, photography, sand, sea, spain, sun, tokyo, travel, video

Swifts at Sunset: Marrakech, Morocco.

June 15, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan

IKIMASHO! x The obscure micronation of Austenasia

June 12, 2015 by joostay

Auste-what? Learning about this tiny country from its new Consul General for Northern Ireland. Stories really don’t get any more obscure and fascinating than the one I am about to share with you regarding the tiny micronation of Austenasia – a landlocked country whose border with the UK is merely a line separating a driveway from a footpath in the south London suburb of Carshalton. The country has a flag, a border and a government. It even has an Emperor […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: allan wilson, austenasia, bizarre, blogging, country, fitness, ikimasho, independence, japan, jonny blair, micronation, story, tokyo, travel, uk, weird, wrythe

Welcome to my crappy Moroccan gym

June 9, 2015 by joostay

Working out how to do some working out in Marrakech When I visit new countries I try and find a local gym. Not only is it good to try and keep some sort of mental/physical routine going when you are on the road, but gyms are a great way to get a glimpse into the local community. Some interesting ones I have found have been on the island of Nusa Lembongan off the coast of Bali, Indonesia, as well as […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, backpacking, fitness, gym, ikimasho, japan, japanese, marrakech, morocco, photography, travel, working out

Welcome to my crappy Thai gym

June 9, 2015 by joostay

Stumbling across a cheap outdoor public gym in the centre of Bangkok. Simple post this one that will hopefully will be of some use to anyone looking for a dirt cheap place to work out in the centre of Bangkok. Gyms are often expensive in the city so if you don’t mind sweating outside with the locals, head to Lumphini Park not far from Silom BTS station. Once you go through the main gates veer to the left and you’ll […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, cheap, fitness, free, gym, ikimasho!japan, japanese, lumphini park, lumpini park, thailand, weights, working out

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Riad Star, Marrakech, Morocco)

June 5, 2015 by joostay

For the past two nights I’ve been staying in the Riad Star – the former home of 1930s vaudeville star Josephine Baker in Marrakech. Baker dropped out of school at the age of 13 and lived as a street child in the slums of St. Louis, sleeping in cardboard shelters and scavenging for food in garbage cans. By 1934 she was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture and the most famous woman in the world. […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, best riad in marrakech, blog, hotel, ikimasho, japan, japanese, josephine baker, marrakech, medina, morocco, photography, tokyo

The Sound of Marrakech, Morocco.

June 2, 2015 by joostay

I’ve always been interested in field recording – that is, the recording of everyday sounds in their natural surroundings. My best friend dabbles in it, and there is a fantastic Japanese sound blog called World Listener which I have just started following. I don’t own a high quality mic myself, but while shooting some simple video the other day in Marrakech I realised just how much sound was all around me. Marrakech is an intense place: especially in terms of sound and smell. There’s no […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, ambient, blog, electroacoustic, field recording, ikimasho, japan, marrakech, marrkesh, mics, morocco, noise, recording, sound, street, urban

Reflections: Living through the Nepal earthquake / Part 2

May 27, 2015 by joostay

Evacuation: Life on the ground and taking a relief flight from Kathmandu to London. It’s been nearly a month since I was evacuated on a relief flight back to the UK by the British Foreign Office after the earthquake in Nepal. Flying home I was a little unsure whether I had made the right decision, thinking I was fine to continue on travelling. But it’s only now that I acknowledge that I was probably more stressed during that first week […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: airplane, asia, backpacking, disaster, earthquake, flight, fundraising, government, help, hotel, kathmandu, london, nepal, red cross, relief, se asia, travel, uk

The immense Danum Valley Conservation Area. Sabah, Borneo.

May 21, 2015 by joostay

One of the last strongholds of undisturbed tropical flora and fauna in the world The Danum Valley Conservation Area is a 438km2 tract of relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp rainforest deep in the heart of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This vast stretch of forest holds unique status in the sense that before it became a conservation area there were no human settlements at all, meaning that hunting, logging and other human interference was non-existent. Recognized as one of the world’s most complex ecosystems, […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, borneo, indonesia, malaysia, nature, photography, rainforest, sabah, wildlife

Medan: Entry point to North Sumatra

May 20, 2015 by joostay

Nice for a visit, kind of. Would I want to live here? Hell no. Quite often when I travel to new cities I judge them by whether or not I could live there. Kuala Lumpur has a great food scene with unrivalled access to the rest of SE Asia. Bangkok is crazy busy, but in a nice way. Even Denpasar in Bali, which is certainly more grubby than the other two cities, has a certain charm hiding behind its chaotic […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, city, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, japanese, medan, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, travelling, urban