Travel Highlights 2025
2025 was probably the busiest year since joining the team, and with so many filming trips, a few moments really stood out. Here are my personal highlights:
#7: Endurance test at Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle
As we usually travel in duos for projects, any chance I get to head out alone with a camera alone feels quite special. For our Top 10 Castles video, I needed to capture some B-roll footage of Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle in Okayama Prefecture. It's known as Japan's only original mountaintop castle, and I had been warned about the not-so-gentle hike up to the keep. I thought I'd come prepared...I was wrong.
Halfway up the rocky narrow trail, gear on my back, camera in hand, sweating heavily from the sudden spike of humidity (despite it being April), I began to understand why these fortresses were built in such inaccessible places. Any attacking army would have been exhausted (like me) long before reaching the gates.
But the reward though was worth every step. From the massive stone walls of the lower defensive rings to the small but striking main keep, and the panoramic views of the town below, that contrast between the tough climb and the quiet reward at the top made this one of my memorable trips of the year.
P.S.: the writer's physical endurance is more "breezy walk" than "mountain hiker" - The Writer
#6: Mediterranean vibes on Etajima Island
The Island Hopping in Hiroshima project was one of those rare occasions where all the videographers on our team were sent out to film. I joined the crew for the shoot on Etajima Island, and I instantly loved its almost Mediterranean atmosphere: blue water, quiet beaches, and olive trees scattered across the hillsides. The highlight of the day was a satisfying lunch at a little seaside pizza restaurant with a charming rock n'roll decor, where they even made their own olive oil.
#5: Yamatane Museum of Art
I did not expect a trip to Tokyo to make it into my list of highlights for this year, but getting to film the beautiful art at the Yamatane Museum of Art after business hours, with only Raina and me inside, felt like a real privilege.
#4: Niigata family trip
This highlight is a very recent one: a family trip to Uonuma No Sato in Niigata Prefecture. The grounds are home to Hakkaisan, a renowned sake brewery and they are dotted with beautifully designed shops and restaurants set against a spectacular natural backdrop. What truly made the trip unforgettable, though, was the drive back home. As the sun was setting down behind the mountains, the sky flared with vivid shades of pink and orange, making the autumn-colored hillsides glow as if lit from within.
#3: Cakes!
Going on a trip with Raina almost always means that food will inevitably be a central part of the journey. Of the four times we visited Fukui City together, we've made it a point to stop at Konbuya Magobei, each and every time. It's one of the city's oldest and most popular wagashi shops. The place is striking even before you step inside: it's unusual exterior, the soft ripples of reflected light dancing on its concrete panel, the carefully chosen cutlery, and the plates decorated with illustrations of Fukui's local flora, everything feels like it was meticulously thought out by the young owner, the 17th in his family line.
And the beauty isn't just in the details. The wagashi is some of the best I've had in my eleven years in Japan, and the cakes served at the counter look and taste like works of art. And that comes from a Frenchman who takes his sweets very seriously!
#2: Lunch with Ama Divers
Keeping with the food theme, another culinary highlight of this year was getting to film a lunch scene at Satoumian, on the Shima Peninsula. There, visitors get to enjoy locally-caught seafood cooked right in front of them by an Ama diver. Ama are Japan's traditional female free-divers, known for harvesting shellfish, seaweed and seafood from the ocean without the use of any modern equipment. Talking with her about this 2000 year old tradition, the techniques used to catch shellfish and octopus, and the visible effects of climate change on the ocean and its inhabitants made the experience feel particularly meaningful.
#1: Early morning at Eiheiji Temple
Another Fukui spot in this year's highlight list: Eiheiji Temple. Thanks to a contact in Fukui City, we managed to get permission to film at the massive Zen temple complex on a very early November morning. In just the few weeks since our location scouting, the greenery had transformed into vivid autumn colors, and as the first rays of sunlight filtered through the leaves, it felt as if time had quietly come to a halt. A truly magical moment, and one of my favorite highlights of the year.
