Minsk city

I went for a walk along with Andrei until my flight time.

 

My very fundamental impression about Minsk remains the same as 4 years ago. Whole the city is quite flat and spacious. Buildings are so large. A lot of nature less people and silence. It is a peaceful city as it was. You can find same buildings in those days at my website (takayukimurakami.com).
Meanwhile, I have notice some changes for example, there were a military sign on Bel Swiss bank's building and people looking like soldiers on the street but I didn't see this time. And I witnessed some Chinese for sure.

It was a very short time to walk around the city but it had various aspects.
Behind the images above, this city is guradually modernised in particular in the outskirt of the city. In fact, the RG competition took place at a foreign capital arena right next to a hotel run by the same company.
Depite this, I have seen some couples haveing a photo session in the park. And some mothers taking care of their kids as well. That means local life hasn't changed that much yet.
And also Belarusian history in the world war second is symbolised in spots.

All in all, I was very happy to come back here to see my good friend Andrei, to follow my favourite sport and to look through Minsk city properly.

Reunion in Minsk

I have come back to Minsk for the first time since 2012, this time from Japan to Minsk. It was to photograph a rhythmic gymanstcs world cup taken place there.

Andrei is one of my friends who I got acquainted with in Minsk back in 2012 when I was following RG like this time before London 2012. He was a news papter writer at that time and that was the reason he was quite closed to me and had a chance to talk with. Although many of Blarusian people are not good at English, he was able to do it along with his brave heart. And probably Asian people were rare to find in those days and then it helped him a lot to speak to me.

4 years have alrady have passed since then. We were keeping intouch and finally reunited. He became cooler than before, looking like an urban man. Well, perhaps because he got married in the 4 years of time.

While I was visiting Minsk for 3 days, I had a spare time to look around the city centre with him as he made some time for me. In 2012, I had no time. Minsk is actually such a small city, it doesn't take that long to look around. But it was very fun to recall places and places by his guide where I had seen last time. You can see how Andrei was excited our requnion from the photos above.
More images will be out in another post.

Chizuru

I have joined in another wedding party of my other study mate Chizuru.

We have got to know each other at British Councila as well as Yohei. As far as I concerned, she joined in the course in order to realise her short term study abroad in the UK and for this reason, she had to have the IELTS exam.

She was also a smart student (unlike me) and she got an enough overall score for her study.  I had more opportunities to see her in Japan after my study in the UK if anything. She is quite kind to everyone and these photos represent her personality nicely.

Yohei

Yohei Kubo was one of my study mates when I was studying at British Council at Iidabashi before my study abroad in the UK. And he married her girlfriend. And I was invited his after party.

It was a quite large scale party, maybe the biggest one I have ever joined in. Perhaps even it was a sort of business for them...
Yohei is originally a really exellent man. When I was studying with him, he was not struggling from getting a good mark of IELTS exams unlike me. I am not sure exactly however, he went to LSE or somewhere in London and also another university in Paris to have his MBA degree after passing a criteria not only that of the IELTS but also GMAT while he was working.
It was actually unexpected that he invited me. But I simply couldn't stop photographing them corresponding to my passion. And of course his personality made me go.

HANAMI 2016

It makes me always happy to have Hanami every year.

An year-end mach

I have come across a really good badminton match at a park near to my home.

Abroad in Japan

I have met my favourite youtuber, Chris Broad at an event.

One day he was advertising the event on his youtube channel and I watched it and got interested soon. As it was first come first served, I applied for a seat quickly. This particular event has been organised by a company which is presumabuly created by Google quire recently. Because some other Japanese and foreign youtubers are invited to the event and have a live talkshow.

The talkshow itself was quite normal and common. Each youtubers introduces own youtube channel and talks about some topics related to.

After the show, the organiser provided free food and drinks including Sushi and alcholes. Surprisingly Sushi chefs came and cook Sushi in front of us. OMG, the organiser has got a lot of money! This was my impression.

The most fun moment to me was that I have seen Chris and Natsuki and had a picture taken with them.
Chris was actually tall much taller than I expected. And Natsuki was a nice guy as expected. He seemed quite a normal person however once he popoed up in a camera frame, he turned on his character.
And finally, I have managed to get their contact details especially Natsuki has responded to me via email!

Summer vacation 2015 -episode Wakamatsu-

After a day at Fukuoka, I moved to Wakamatsu in Kitakyushu city in order to have a reunion with a man who I had come across at Milan back in 2012 when I was following rhythmic gymnastics competitions. His name is Ryosuke, he was travelling around the world in those days to find out a woman marries him.
Ryosuke is a very nice guy. So much gentle and funny individual. I still remember when we met for the first time at Milan. We came across at a hostel and he first spoke to me saying "Are you Japanese by any chance?" and I reacted "Yes I am". And he asked me "let's see around the city together if you don't mind." It was absolutely fine with me.
He likes to drink alcohols and then I clearly remember that we had a drink together at the hostel. Of course we went sightseeing as well. Particularly I have invited him to see the painting "The last supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci. A booking is required beforehand and I've let him know about this and he has managed to keep the last one ticket. And I helped him out as I can speak Italian at that time and then we said good-bye in a good mood.
After that, he continued travelling around the world and came back to Japan due to his health problem, which was at a fatal level. Then I was thinking that it would be really nice to have an opportunity to see him again in Japan and have a interview session regarding his travel experience.

I have made an appointment before coming in Kyushu and he has managed to make a space for me.

First of all, he actually is married as he found out his wife during his trip and they welcomed me along. They have taken me around the Wakamatsu where they live in. As some images show above, this is a very much industrial area. There are some chimneys fuming smoke as this area used be one of the biggest industrial areas throughout Japan back in 60-70's. Probably the red bridge symbolises the fact.

Also there are some windmills producing local electricity at the coast. Some people are having fun by fishing. What I find is that Ryosuke is a generous man amongst people I've ever met. Because he can casually talk to people fishing there. This is exactly what he did when we met in Milan. His attitude is never provocative otherwise neither I didn't drink with him nor visit his home. This is the biggest reason that he is charming. And not to mention, his wife must have been attracted by this.

They have taken me to their home after taking a walk at the coast. Their house locates in the middle of the hill along with many slopes and probably it's really hard to access on foot. We started drinking finally, looking back the day we had met, the background they got married, the situation he got sick and returned back in Japan... This was a lovely moment to have and I definitely appreciate our friendship.
They allowed me to stay one night at their home and we drunk enough.
After our dinner time, I found that he disappeared from the dinning because he was sleeping already. I hope this was because we had a happy day as much as he got feeling relieved.