[call me kaz]

I do a lot of 3D modeling in Zbrush/Maya/Substance Painter and also sketches and illustrations in Photoshop. I don't take commissions, sorry!

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JANUS

3D printed original mobile armor, based loosely on a combination of Hy-Gogg, Neue Ziel, Kshatriya, and Neo Zeong. 

Entered in Newtype’s first Buildcon mecha competition in 2019, was awarded 3rd place :) 

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Guard for Janus, the mobile armor I designed and printed last year. Will be 3D printing eventually along with a very long gun. 

Colors and some design choices based on The O, which beat Janus in the Buildcon gunpla competition last year. That’s also why it has a giant O on its back because I thought it was cheeky, ha

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Nidus Deluxe syandana “Nosos” and preliminary sketches.

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Day 13 in Japan.

I slept well in my little Ryokan room, and got up wishing I had booked another night. Pardon the messy photo! I didn’t have a lot of time to explore Kyoto before taking off for another long journey to Takayama in Gifu, so I tried to make the most of my day wandering around the Fushimi Inari Shrine area, but didn’t go in (I should have). It’s true that Kyoto is full of shrines though, so I did get to explore a few during my stroll. What a gorgeous day it was for that! It was in Kyoto that I had black garlic ramen, the most photogenic ramen of my trip. I’m not sure why travelers seem to dislike Kyoto. It wasn’t nearly as touristy as it’s often made out to be and I’d like to spend more time there when I get a chance.

I got into Takayama fairly late into the evening, as per usual...

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I’m more active on Twitter these days Follow here if you want 

https://twitter.com/Syncrasis

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Day 12 in Japan.

It was a short train ride from Osaka that morning to Kyoto, so I arrived at my Ryokan a little bit early. They kindly let me leave my baggage there while I went to Arashiyama for the rest of the day. I took a bus to the train station, and wandered around awhile trying to figure out what train to take before finding the right one (this was a common dance for me, I’m very glad I didn’t plan anything with an actual schedule).

On my way to the bamboo grove, I stopped in a few gift shops and found a hand towel with a cloud pattern I really liked. This has become a permanent addition to my purse, even outside of Japan it’s handy to have it on me.

The grove itself was a little sparse, probably due to the typhoons that had blown through the area only a couple weeks previous. I’m still glad I visited, though.

I had some shabu shabu for dinner in a somewhat fancy looking, and rather empty, restaurant before wandering up the road to a bridge I didn’t get the chance to check out during the day. I tried to get some cool night/long exposure shots of the area... it was fun but the photos aren’t very good, haha.

Finally, I got some dango before heading back to the ryokan, following a pathway that was lit up by glowing cylinders of kimono fabric back to the little two-car train. The evening had turned chilly rather quickly so I was happy to come back!

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Day 11 in Japan.

I spent a lot of this day at the hostel furiously working on my gundam kit and managed to get the Gundam itself finished, just accessories left. In the evening I went to a fancy crepe place and had a tasty chestnut crepe. Afterwards, I had decided that I definitely wanted to ride that weird shaped ferris wheel attached to the Don Quixote and was pleasantly surprised by the view. The cab itself was interesting too... there was an inner half-shell where the chairs were, and the outer shell, which was mostly a large, domed window. The inner shell spun around 180 degrees to let you in, and then spun back around to face the unobstructed view. Sunset was a great time to go! 

I really wanted to check out Denden town, and was lured into shop after shop selling figurines (especially gunpla). At this point I was fairly sure there was no way around lugging another piece of baggage around so I gave in and I ended up coming back with yet another model kit: Wing Zero Prototype (EW version).

Finally, I ended my night at a women-only bar. I wish I had done this earlier, as it was really fun! I even managed to sing some karaoke (I sang Kurenai, of course).

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You the one who did the limbo deluxe concept art?

Yep that was me!

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Seriously, what's the name of that hotel you went to in Hakone? Bucket. List.

Kowakien Ten-Yu! It’s right next to an onsen resort too!!

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Day 10 in Japan.

Still in Osaka, I went south to Dotonbori yet again for breakfast, and then north to Tenjimbashisuji, the longest shopping street in Japan, for the day. It’s 2.6 km long, and took awhile to walk down. Lining the shotengai on either side were tiny hole-in-the-wall shops punctuated by very loud, bright pachinko parlors whose noise you could only really hear when people were coming or going out the doors. I tried out some taiyaki from a street vendor, it was crisp and delicious! Afterwards, I made my way over to the HEP Five ferris wheel on foot, it was very impressive on approach as it is very large and had an excellent view from the top. At the end of the evening, I ended where I started in Dotonbori.

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Day 9 in Japan.

I had a pretty grueling journey to Osaka the previous day, so I decided to take it easy on my first full day. This was also my first experience in a hostel so I made some friends and started working on my Sazabi gundam model kit, with the brilliant plan that I wouldn’t have to carry around a huge unweildly box for the rest of the trip if I just put the thing together. Spoilers: I put it back in the box anyway......

In the evening, I went down to Dotonbori for some shopping and photos and was lucky enough to catch the Don Quixote ferris wheel... thing during golden hour. Exploring the side streets around the area was also quite rewarding, as there were many narrow alleyways that each had their own sliver of another world inside. 

Nighttime on the river left quite an impression on me, with the city’s ephemeral glow reflected in the water.

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Day 8 in Japan.

I went to the art museum with all my luggage and checked it into a locker. There was still some time before the performance piece, so I wandered through the ancient pottery, folding screens, and a secret room of erotic art before heading up to the top floor. The artist was being interviewed about the huge, impressive piece depicting Raijin and Fujin (classical gods of thunder and wind) he had displayed in the viewing area (first photo, pulled from Google... my photos had too much glare). It was in Japanese so I could only understand bits and pieces but it was fun nonetheless. Afterwards, we all went down in front of his piece, where a tarp had been laid out. There was a hot foot bath in the seating area so I definitely got in on that. The man next to me translated a little of the artist’s introduction to me. He said that traditional arts in Japan are dying out, and the artist feels it’s very important to find ways to keep it alive. He travels all around the world doing performance pieces like this one and gets various reactions from each location, but in Japan, everyone is too polite and doesn’t react. He encouraged us to react. In the end, I think everyone was just too interested in taking photos on their phones, lol. 

The journey to Osaka was rough as it was during rush hour and maneuvering my heavy, bulky luggage was extremely difficult. I had to take it very slow and got to my hostel just before 11pm. 

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Day 7 in Japan.

This was my only full day in Hakone, so I wanted to make sure I took a ropeway ride up to Owakudani, the famous sulfur-spewing valley at the top of the mountain. I took dozens of photos here, the colors were so beautiful and unusual. The sulfur didn’t smell as bad as it’s often described, it reminded me more of Rocket Club from fifth grade and launching model rockets. 

The ropeway continued down the other side of the mountain, where I could see Lake Ashi from my telephoto lens and... a pirate ship?? Heck yes I rode that.

After this I took the bus back to my hotel, where I had a delicious Kaiseki set meal. Shown is just one of several courses consisting of very small delicacies. This was my first time with a lot of these foods, so I had to ask the kind people to either side of me how best to eat them. To my surprise, one of them happened to be a fine artist whose work was being shown at the art gallery just down the hill from the hotel. He let me know that he was also going to do a performance piece there the following morning. What a cool coincidence! 

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Day 6 in Japan. 

Most of my day was occupied by train travel to Hakone, including getting on the wrong Shinkansen, which is always a very time-costly mistake. However, on the way back, I was able to catch my only glimpse of Fujisan from the Shinkansen window, and wow! I was lucky enough to take a few photos. 

In Hakone, I checked into my most expensive hotel booking. The first four images show off my room, the view from my balcony, and my private onsen bath (!) as well as the supplied yukata, which I really liked. The last two images were from the private garden this hotel had. The short stroll along rushing water led up to a small shrine at the top and offered fantastic views. 

This was an onsen hotel, so I can’t show you the many lovely onsen I got to try out! My favorite was the outside one that was situated next to a tall, thin waterfall. It was fun trying out all the seating rocks.

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Day 5 in Japan.

I climbed Mt. Takao! Well, ok, I took the cable car up halfway and climbed the rest. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Fuji from several locations but, well, I wasn’t so lucky. However, because it was a weekday AND foggy, there were barely any other hikers, and I managed to get some really moody shots of the temples and forest.

One of my goals climbing Takaosan was to try tororo soba on the mountain. It was very refreshing!

The last image depicts the amazing view at the top of the mountain. It’s 599 meters tall and I’m blown away by how far I can see.

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Day 4 in Japan.

On this day I decided to go to Asakasa to see Sensoji and the surrounding area. It was a sunny, warm day so it was full of tourists, and I opted to walk around the main street leading up to the temple. There were lots of little interesting shops along the side streets, and it was much easier to take my time without tourists bustling around me.

After finding the Don Quixote and buying a few essentials (including Gundam markers), I looped back around to the temple grounds. From there you can also see Skytree off in the distance, so I decided I’d try and walk there.

It was, of course, much longer than it seemed, but when I made it there I discovered that there was no wait (!) to get up to the main viewing platform. What a view!

After I got back to my hotel, I decided to return to Odaiba (I bought the wrong pants size) and watch the Gundam show at night. I also wanted to ride the  Daikanransha but it wasn’t running for some reason. That’s ok, Japan seems to have an obsession with ferris wheels and I’ll get another chance in Osaka.

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Day 3 in Japan.

Today (which is several days ago), I decided to go to Odaiba to see the life-sized Gundam. First though, I’d have to go through Tsukiji and hoped to pass through Toyosu and see the new fish market. I did end up skirting around the old Tsukiji market area but decided I was much more excited about Gundam than fish markets. Unfortunately, my success rate with trains in Japan has to be 50% or lower, and I ended up wandering around the manmade islands near Odaiba and then backtracking to find a train. This station also had a Pasmo machine so I got a Pasmo train card (finally). I went over the Rainbow Bridge (!) sitting across from a very excited boy saying, “レンボブリジ” over and over, bouncing in his seat and watching the scenery pass by. I had to agree with that kid, it was something to be excited about. That whole area was beautiful.

Finally, I made it to the Gundam at Diver City, and it was glorious. Every 2 hours, it would transform, but I kept missing the shows, and so I wandered around the mall. Most notable purchase: Sazabi Ver. Ka which came in a box that I worry about getting home...

By the time I was able to record the transformation sequence, the sun was almost set, which is a great time for photos of the skyline and... other things. Where am I again??