Joseph R Winter: 2015

22.9.15

A day out at Dismaland: Banksy's 'bemusement park'

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Japan: Day 20-26 - Exploring Tokyo - Tattoos, views, raw chicken and trainers!

It's not every day that you see a meerkat chilling in a Donald Duck outfit ... but hey, that's Japan for you!

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Japan: Day 13 + 14 - Hiroshima + Miyajima Island

What do you find half way up a mountain on the middle of an island deep within it's thick forest, amidst monkeys swinging in the trees I hear you ask? Well, it just so happens that I know ...

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Japan: Day 12 - Himeji + Kurashiki ... Castles + Canals!

Today ended on a dry high ... and probably with a few of my favourite pictures I've ever taken, but that's definitely not how it started!

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Japan: Day 10 + 11 - The many heights and sights of Osaka

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Japan: Day 8 + 9 - Ryokans and Ghost Towns - Exploring Ise & Futamiura

I think the highlight of the last two days was snapping this pic of an elderly wheelchair bound crew to a desolate town for a picture with what seemed to be two papier-mâché style frogs! (p.s why is the woman second from the left holidng up three fingers on each hand? ... Extra peace?)

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Japan: Day 7 - Nara / Uji / Kyoto - Deer oh deer!

Today's excursion ends down back alleys and narrow cobbled streets ... but that's not where it began!

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Japan: Day 6 - Monkeying around in Arashiyama

After a fun packed day yesterday there was still a few things in Kyoto that I wanted to do before I moved on to the next destination, but the last few days had been pretty intense so the snooze button got pressed a couple (at least 10) times!

Once I was finally up and dressed I was ready to roll, and prepared for the worst as bad weather had been reported, but hoping for scenes like this ...

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Japan: Day 5 - Kyoto

An early morning was in order to take advantage of being able to watch the sunrise from the rooftop of Gion Yasaka house (one of the amazing apartments Japan Experience have available to rent in Kyoto) and was definitely worth it. The view of this amazing landscape with mountains surrounding the city from every direction except south is spectacular.

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Japan: Day 4 - Lake Ashinoko

So here's the highlight of today's excursion:

But we'll come back to that later ... After a pretty hectic day yesterday there was no time for any rest today as I had lots to try and do whilst I was still in Hakone before heading to my next destination; Kyoto.

After my first experience of an onsen last night, I booked a private indoor onsen session at the guest house for 6.30am to start the day off right. I see why they're so popular out here, I could definitely get use to starting (and finishing) the day with one.

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Japan: Day 3 - Hakone

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Japan: Day 2 - Tokyo

So this is Tokyo ....

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Japan: Day 1 - The Journey

So Japan's not close huh?

I've spent the whole day travelling! Firstly I left North London at 6am and headed to Heathrow (that Piccadilly line takes forever but at least I just had to sit there and do nothing in my sleepless state, for what felt like 40 stops!)

A quick flight (and when I say quick I really mean it - 50 minutes!) to Amsterdam which was pretty much empty, except for a chap from Ghana who had 4 phones and couldn't seem to work any of them! A 2-hour wait at the airport was filled with checking out clogs, cows, china crockery, bread displays! (all the things Holland are famous for obviously) and taking a few snaps, before jumping on an 11-hour flight to Tokyo.

Because Japan is 9 hours ahead I should have really slept, but I was too excited! So now I've spent a full day travelling but have arrived in Tokyo at the beginning of their day - 9.25am!! Today might be a bit of a struggle, but the journey was smooth, everything ran on time and I got to Japan in one piece!

Time to get my luggage, go through customs and find my way to Tokyo ...

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Japan: The calm before the storm!

It's finally time!

Everything is packed and I'm ready for an early flight in the morning. I've got all of the essentials and have tried not to take too much ... BUT I find it really hard not to pack 4 of everything! Oh well, I'm the one that's got to carry it around Japan so I've only got myself to blame, huh!

Tomorrow morning I embark on a 26-day trip around Japan, I'm ready for the adventure begin!

My next post will be from Tokyo! Arghhhhh
See you all on the other side ...

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20.2.15

Japan: The photogenic dream quickly becoming reality

In 6 days I will be on my way to Japan!
I actually can't believe how quickly it's come around. It seemed like it was only a few weeks ago that I thought this may actually be a possibility, and here I am putting together the finishing touches to a pretty amazing trip. All flights, hotels, rail cards and sumo wrestling tickets are booked. My itinerary is pretty much finalised and I've got a list of places I want to try and visit in each city.

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My tattoos ... so far (A work in progress)

I get asked a lot about my tattoos; what do they mean, who does them, why, didn’t that hurt, aren’t they going to look rubbish when you’re older etc etc
Tattoos aren’t for everyone, but I absolutely love mine. The more I get, the more I seem to want so I can’t see myself stopping any time soon.
Everyone has the right to an opinion and I’ll take anyone’s thoughts on board. Each to their own I say!
I see it as a really amazing way to express yourself

From here on in I’ll post any ideas I have for new work, new artists that I stumble across who’s artwork I’m a fan of and any work I get done … I already have a lot planned! But for now here’s a bit of a catch-up on some of my favourite pieces:

This ittle panther was done by Steve Boltz at Smith Street Tattoo Parlour in Brooklyn. It was a matching tattoo with a friend at the time during a visit to New York for NYE. The original artwork is a piece by Rik Lee.

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Japan: Locations ... check. Route ... check.

Here it is ... the final line up.

After pinpointing the locations that I want to visit during my trip, I've managed to figure out a route that means I can maximise my time in each city and hopefully give me quite a enough time to explore my top 3 - Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka:

The map above shows the route I'm hopefully going to take. The route includes the following places:

1. Tokyo
2. Hakone
3. Kyoto
4. Nara
5. Ise
6. Osaka
7. Kurashiki
8. Hiroshima
9. Miyajima Island
10. Kanazawa
11. Takayama
12. Tokyo

Now I have to work out the quickest mode of transport between each location and the activities I want to do in each city, which should then make it easy to figure out how many days I should spend at each place.
I do have a budget to try and work to so that will obviously have to factor in ... but this is a once in a lifetime trip so I'm going all out ... right!?!

Next ... the number of days per city and an idea of what I want to see and do in each place.

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5.2.15

The Hunger/Burger Games Part 2: Dirty Burger and Mother Clucker

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Post Pop: East Meets West @ The Saatchi Gallery

This exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery brings together a couple of hundred works by 110 artists from China, the Former Soviet Union, Taiwan, the UK and the USA, celebrating Pop Art's legacy.

Post Pop: East Meets West examines why Pop Art has had such a powerful influence over artists from world regions that have had very different and sometimes opposing ideologies.

This has been my favourite exhibition of the year so far. I couldn’t believe that the whole exhibition is free! I’ve paid for exhibitions that haven’t been half as interesting! A few of the stand out pieces within the gallery for me are:

- Jeff Koons … Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank

- Alexander Kosolapov's Hero, Leader, God

- Gu Wenda's United Nations: Man and Space (Made of human hair, white glue and burlap)

- Tom Sachs Nutsy’s McDonald’s

- Rostislav Lebedev’s A Dream Comes True

- Leonid Sokov’s Two Profiles (Stalin and Marilyn)

- Vitaly Komar & Alexanfer Melamids Post-art No 1 (Warhol)

- Wang Guangyi’s Great Criticism

If you get a chance to check this exhibition out before it closes on February 23^rd, do it. It’s definitely worth it!

I couldn’t help but to photograph pretty much everything in the gallery, so here’s a few of those pics:

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A Passion for Fashion ...The wardrobe breakdown!

I get quite a lot of questions on Instagram about where I get my clothes from, so below I've added the pics that have had the most questions and I've included links to the stores and brands where I got the items from:

T-shirt: American Apparel

Necklace: Chain from Amazon. Pendant from Vatican City!!

T-shirt: Zanerobe from Urban Outfitters UK

Necklace: Icon Brand from asos

Denim Jacket: All Saints

Shirt: F&F @ Tesco

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Jumper: H&M

Necklace: asos

T-Shirt: H&M

Neclace: Chain from Amazon. Pizza Pendants from Amazon

Jeans: Levi's (510's)

Trainers: Vans

T-Shirt: All Saints

T-Shirt: H&M

Necklace: Amazon

Jeans: Topman

Trainers: Vans

T-Shirt: All Saints

Denim Jacket: Topman

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

T-Shirt: H&M

Necklace: Chain from Amazon. Pendant from Vatican City!!

Denim Jacket: Levi's

Shirt: Salt Valley @ Urban Outfitters

Jeans: Levi's (Ex Girlfriend style ... super skinny)

Bag: All Saints

Sunglasses: Oakley

Denim Jacket: Topman

T-Shirt: American Apparel

Necklace: Amazon

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24.1.15

Japan: The potential line up! But what's possible in 24 days?

So after doing A LOT of research which included scouring instagram, tripadvisor, google, downloading countless brochures and guide books I'm 94% sure that I have the final list of places that I'd like to visit and if possible, incorporate into my trip Japan!

And the places are:

- Tokyo (of course)
- Mount Fuji (in the image above)
- Osaka
- Kyoto
- Ise
- Hiroshima
- Matsumoto
- Himeji
- Kurashiki
- Kanazawa

I haven't included too many places because I don't want to spread myself too thin. I'd like to spend quite a bit of time in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, so it's going to be a case of figuring out what I'd like to do in each city, the amount of time that will take me AND most importantly the travel times between each location. I really need to try and maximise my time in Japan because even though 24 days sounds like a long time, it's going to fly by! Planning my route with logistics at the forefront, dictating where I hit and when is going to be key.

Now I'm ready to start plotting my route ... watch this space!

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22.1.15

My Crepes Back Catalogue ... Beware: Very Nike heavy!

So over the last few years I've become a bit of a sneaker geek ... and when I say sneakers I mean Nikes! From now on I'll post an trainer update whenever I get a new pair with a bit of a review, but for now I'll play catch up and have featured my favourite Nikes over the last few years below. Enjoy: