Isiwari Jinja (Shrine) in Japan - 石割神社

Last month I visited my father in Japan for a short 1 week visit and we took a trip to Lake Yamanaka in Yamanashi prefecture (about 2 hours from Tokyo). It's a place we used to come often when I was a child during the summer time for it's cool climate (compared to the brutal Tokyo summer) and a beautiful view of Mount Fuji.

1 place I've never been to and wanted to also check out during this visit was Ishiwari Jinja, translated to 'Cracked Rock (boulder) Shrine' and I was just blown away by a picture I found on the internet of this place, also known as a spiritual 'power spot'. Any time I visit new places, I typically try not to read anything about it and like to read about it after the visit like I did with this shrine.

About a 15 minute drive from Lake Yamanaka, we came to the entrance of the shrine. My father had difficulty walking up steps so he decided to stick around a nearby coffee shop while I went up for a quick sketch before we had lunch. I had my sketching bag, wore sandals and told my dad I'll be back quickly.

I didn't know any better at this time.

Entrance at the base

2 Statues at entrance

Straight steps leading up. Cannot see the very top.

 

I think this photo of the sign must have been around mid point. It's saying to be careful of the stair steps. On the top left is a hand scribble note reading "This is the 243rd step". I wish it also told me how many more steps were remaining until reaching the shrine.

Warning sign to be careful of steps

At this point about 45 minutes up the stairs, I'm completely wipe out and out of breath. The T-shirt I was wearing is completely drenched in sweat and I haven't met a single person going up or coming down the steps. I have no choice but to keep on going up.
Then eventually I spot a rock with some religious rope wrapped around it.

Then a sign.

Old hand written sign talking about the history of this location

 Then I see something!!

I finally see something!!

I finally made it to the rock! It's hard to describe in words but I'm completely blown away with this scene since I just walked up 403 stair steps for an hour, not meeting a single person and something like this all of a sudden appears.
Like with any subject, I like to sketch before thinking about it and that's what I did here while I'm trying to cool down. I'm also starting to get text messages from my father who wants to go eat lunch and didn't think it would take this long for me to come back. I didn't think it would take this long to come here too.
I'm sketching super fast.

 

After the line sketch is done, I'm starting to feel good and relaxed and my left side of the brain starts working again. I go check out what's written on the sign and it tells me that there's a passage way going through the split rock and going around the path 3 times (clockwise) will bring good luck. I immediately give it a try.

Here's the 'rock'!

Stair steps from the left leading up to the rock.

 

A very tight corridor and the walls of the rock was wet too and I barely fit through.

 

Upon quickly returning to 'base' and having 'Hoto Udon' with my father, I'm telling him all the stories about this shrine.  I also remembered my iPhone kept track of my steps so I look at it and just cracked up. I was blown away by the amount of steps I had taken!!

What a fun memorable trip!

Ramen is HOT in Boston! (+1 bonus London Ramen)

I remember many years ago, it felt like there was a brand new Ramen shop opening up every month in New York city. Now NYC is filled with great Ramen shops that you could only once get a taste of in Japan. Fast forward to 2016 and Boston is finally starting to boom too!

I still have a handful of places I need to visit but here are some that I was able to go to eat and get a sketch of too:

•  Little Big Diner (1st Sketch) in Newton is probably one of the more newer places to open up and I had the Shio Chicken Ramen which was excellent! They had a number of nice looking appetizers and a nice selection of alcoholic drinks too. I'll be sure to be back!

• Yakitori Zai (Now Closed) - This place used to be a high end Yakitori restaurant that also served really nice Ramen just on the weekends. I heard that the reason they closed down was due to the neighbors complaining from the restaurants food venting. Bummer... 

• Snappy Ramen - They have stores named Snappy Sushi too and I've been to the one on Newbury Street as well as the one in Davis square. This sketch is from the Newbury one and it was my very first 'Lobster Ramen'! This Ramen was actually more of a novelty item and was fun sharing with friends. I thought their more standard ramen dishes offered at the Davis Square store was much better.

• Here's the Davis Square version of Snappy Ramen:

• Yume wo Katare  This place has been super popular ever since they opened up 3 1/2 years ago. known for their Jiro-kei style Ramen, the place usually has people waiting in line for hours to get in. I thought the taste was really good but portion wise, I couldn't even finish 1/3 of the ramen bowl since it was too big. I have numerous friends who swears by this ramen and their large portion so if you're super hungry, this is the place to go!

• Santouka Ramen This ramen shop originally from Hokkaido is probably one of my favorite places in Boston. I used to visit New Jersey to see my father quite often and used to always have a bowl of Santouka before returning to Boston. Well, now it's open in Harvard square and it's really good!

• Ganko Ramen This place in Brookline opened up about 8 months ago and really enjoyed the overall presentation of the place. The menu is simple ( I believe only 4 dishes and couple of drinks), the interiors simple and calming too. I really like this place.

• This last one's not from Boston but had it on my recent trip to London at Shoryu Ramen 
  It was Excellent!

(Added January 2017)
I've been to the one in NYC but this was the first time visiting Totto Ramen in Boston.
It was actually really good and for some reason crazy filling too.

I had this for lunch, and skipped dinner and wasn't even hungry the next morning too !

Sketch NOW think later: Workshop booklets have arrived!

Updated 8/20:

I'm all sold out!

Thank you for everyone that showed interest in my booklet!
My last 2 copies were shipped out to Pennsylvania and Germany today and I'm completely sold out of this booklet.

I hope one day to be able to expand on this material to create a bigger sketching book and to be able to do more classes & workshops.

Thanks again,

miked

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Updated 08/10:
I'm super excited to have the booklets finally made available on my shop HERE

Sad news is that I only have a limited amount of copies but hope it's enough for everyone interested in this booklet.

thanks!
miked

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Updated 6/20:

Hot off the press!  I'm so excited that my workshop booklets have safely arrived. I thought they came out really nice, and my cat TenTen agreed too :)I can't wait to share them with everyone that signed up for my workshop.

I ordered more then the amount of people that signed up for my workshop and plan to make them available on my website in August after the symposium.

If you're interested in a copy, please leave your email here and I'll be sure to get back to you with the info! (Sorry, sold out on 8/20)

Zoo sketching with Sophie & Maggie

 
[Mike Daikubara in Boston] Last week I went sketching with Sophie and Maggie, identical twin daughters of our good friends and they have been interested in drawing. I had promised to go sketching with them for a while now and finally made an opportunity to go sketching together.
It was their first time sketching at a zoo so I went a little early to Stone Zoo to do some research and do a few practice sketches to see what would be easy to sketch.

My 1st choice: Flamingos. They were really loud and seemed to move a lot but in reality they didn't move very much. Even if they moved, there was another flamingo standing right next to the first flamingo in a similar pose. I thought this would be good.

2nd choice: Black-Necked Crane. Another one that didn't move very much which was good - but since there was only 1 crane, when he got up and walked away, you had to stop sketching.

The girls arrived so I took them to the Flamingo area.

They hated it!!

They couldn't stand the noise and especially the smell (which indeed did smell pretty bad)

So we started walking around and came across the alligator area.
He was all the way near the front glass and didn't move - most of all he didn't smell which was important to the twins :)
I started sketching, then the girls just followed along without any intimidation.
While we were sketching, there were lots of spectators, little children coming real close to see what the girls were drawing, yet the two just continued to sketch without being distracted - I was very impressed.
The alligator didn't move but the foreshortening perspective and the details of the reptile made it a very hard subject but they seemed to have enjoyed it and successfully captured the shapes/colors too.

 

Lots of other children were inspired by Sophie and Maggie sketching and they asked their parents if they could sketch too - that was great to hear. I also loved this one conversation:

(3yr old girl asking her dad): Can you draw the alligator?

(Dad): Mommy and Daddy aren't good at drawing...

(Girl): But I'm good at drawing!

What kept going through my head was Picasso's famous quote "All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up" - I wish the little girl can keep it up.

Next we walked around and saw 2 bears.
I immediately pulled out my sketchbook to see if the bear was even possible to capture since he just kept on walking around. The girls saw me do this and starting sketching while standing on their own too. I never thought they could sketch while standing so I was impressed. They also jumped right into using the felt tip pens I gave them that day.

We also spread a blanket on the floor to continue sketching the details and to add color. A while ago my wife and I gave them watercolor pencils and a water brush which they have been using really well. The youngest sister Ellie even started drawing with her crayons too!

I drew the 3 girls.
They loved the bear poop which I also added into the sketch :)

What a fun relaxing day!
Hope to do more sketching with them in the future!

Trip to downtown Atlanta

Georgia Aquarium

[Mike Daikubara in Atlanta, GA] 
Last month I was able to attend a 5 day graphics design conference held in Atlanta. I love conferences - Such a great way to listen to stories, be inspired and to learn from professionals in various disciplines.
Another thing I love about conferences is the ability to travel to new places, and to slip in a sketch here and there.

To start off, here's a mandatory plane interior sketch to get warmed up :)

Delta Airlines

My hotel in Atlanta was in front of the Centennial Olympic park and I walked around that evening.
Here's the World of Coke building also in the park captured right before it got dark, and the top of the building after it got dark exposing the famous coke bottle shape.
The place was closed but every 10 seconds or so I kept on hearing the coke bottle being opened and poured into a glass. After an hour of listening to this, I had to get a drink of Coke even though I rarely drink Coke!

World of Coke - Exterior

Later in the week I was able to check out the inside and it was just really impressive!
It's unbelievable in how personal and emotional they can communicate their drinks since after the tour, I really wanted to drink coke! They also had a section where they had Coke a Cola products from all around the world - very impressive and also got to re-taste my favorite drink from Peru - Inca Kola!

World of Coke - All you can drink Coke products from around the world

Next to the Coke museum was an aquarium. I didn't know anything about this place but it was probably one of the best aquarium's I've ever been too! The building was so nicely layed out and since they were open until late at night (and with a discount) I was able to check it out.

Here's a really dark sketch but managed to somewhat capture the feeling of the place and the colors were later on added in the hotel room.

Georgia Aquarium

My hotel room on the 14th floor had an amazing view of the park and the skyscrapers of downtown Atlanta. It also happened to be the week of a large EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival taking place in the park and every night until 11PM, my room got blasted with the low bass sound shaking my entire room.

 

Omni Hotel Room View

Also connected to my hotel was the CNN Center - The world headquarters of CNN. At lunch time I sat at the food court and sketched the impressive escalator that went right into the globe shape.

CNN Tower

My first solo sketching Trip to Puerto Rico

Back in December I found out that I needed to use up my 4 days of vacation at work that month or I would lose it - so of course I decided to use it!

Looking around for things to do, I asked my wife if she wanted to go somewhere. Since we recently got 2 kittens, we couldn't leave them alone so she decided to stick around.

Thus my first ever solo sketching trip!

I was super excited and looked everywhere for all possibilities but had a few criteria that was important to me. 

I wanted to be:

1. a warm place so I could sketch outside.
2. a place I can walk around everywhere and not have to drive.
3. a place where there's a direct flight from Boston.
4. a place that was pretty inexpensive to travel to.

 After lots of searching Puerto Rico rose to the top! specifically "Old San Juan".

If was also off season making everything cheap as well as having mile points saved up that I could use!

2 weeks later I was in Old San Juan sketching my first subject at the hotel:

 

In total I was able to do 35 sketches and had an amazing 4 days.

Here are a few scans from my sketchbook.

Excited by the trip, after coming home I started working on my 6th book.
To keep the book as raw as possible, I kept all the content as is but only rewrote my hand written letters to make it much more legible- Hope that helps readers want to read my text a little bit more :)

Now available through Amazon.