The next morning we started off at Ikuta Shrine. The Shinto shrine is located in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country.

According to Nihon Shoki, it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the Kami Wakahirume, and was used as the base for a festival welcoming warriors back from the latest attempt to invade Korea. It now apparently carries a reputation of being a place at which NOT to marry as many famous Japanese couples who have been married here have since divorced.

Ikuta Shrine is a post from: Zōkyō

We had a long day wondering walking up and down Kobe’s hills. Heading back to our hotel, we stopped for a glass of red wine at a really cool place called “Diente Diente” before we did. Red walls, a great big bar, and friendly staff, with “Coffee and Cigarettes” playing on the screen. Perfect little hole in the wall in a really cool neighborhood. Well worth stopping by for a cafe and some window shopping on a trip to Kobe.

We still had two more days ahead of us, so we went home to make a little place for the next day then crashed.

Night Cap is a post from: Zōkyō

Meandering around.

Stray Dogs of Kobe is a post from: Zōkyō

Then up to Ninomiya is a post from: Zōkyō

Then we took a stroll down to Kobe Port.

Kobe Port Tower is a post from: Zōkyō

“Opportunities, many times, are so small that we glimpse them not and yet they are often the seeds of great enterprises. Opportunities are also everywhere and so you must always let your hook be hanging. When you least expect it, a great fish will swim by.”

Og Mandino (American Essayist and Psychologist, 1923-1996)

“Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.” is a post from: Zōkyō

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages…

Come one, Come all…

Behold the latest unseen fandangled enigmatic discoveries of the known universe, all under one tent. Bewildering oddities to seize your imaginations and mysteries of wonderment to steal your hearts. It truly must be seen to be believed.

Do not be fooled by the artistry of this creation. No doubt there was a unhinged passion in the uncovering of these peculiar phenomenons, yet their marvel is unto themselves, never to be seen until now, before your very eyes!

It is with great honor to WELCOME YOU TO THE BERZIRCUS!!!

WELCOME TO THE BERZIRCUS!!! is a post from: Zōkyō

Sunday morning
Brings the dawn in
It’s just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning
Sunday morning
It’s just the wasted years so close behind
Watch out the world’s behind you
There’s always someone around you who will call
It’s nothing at all

Sunday morning
And I’m falling
I’ve got a feeling I don’t want to know
Early dawning
Sunday morning
It’s all the streets you crossed, not so long ago
Watch out the world’s behind you
There’s always someone around you who will call
It’s nothing at all


-L. Reed, J. Cale

Sunday Morning is a post from: Zōkyō

Announcing two new projects, one my new website located at brianscottpeterson.com. The second is a new photographic work titled Nipponikong being exhibited by the Association Bricolages Ondulatoires et Particulaires (BOP). Please enjoy

Nipponikong

In the sandbox in my back yard, like most American children, I too thought that if I dug a hole deep enough, I just might end up in the Orient. The fantasies of what I might find were filled with bustling rickshaws toting red-umbrella-ed geishas, orient-silk’d emperors sitting in gold-flaked thrones in Shaolin temples, Chinese-starred ninjas battling Kung Fu samurai while their fu-man-chu mustached masters watched atop spiring greed-jaded mountain tops.

When I got older I discovered my fantasies were ever so slightly askew and that getting to the orient did indeed require digging a deep hole, however a financial one, rather that a literal one. And to begin to wrap one’s head around what one might find there would require digging another type of hole altogether.

My first trip to Tokyo in 2004 shared something in common with my first trip to Hong Kong the same year. They were both love at first sight (and smell, touch, taste and sound), everything from the ancient temples to the still very alive food. From a western perspective, particularly an American one, the cities are as unfamiliar and outlandish as they come. There is nothing that can be done to prepare oneself for the bombardment of peculiarities found in the open markets or down the less traveled alleys of both. With the enigmas I continue to find around every corner comes a deepening curiosity in the social and urban latticework that make up both of these unique cities. And the deeper I dig into each of the cultures and cityscapes, the more surprises I come to find, and the less I realize I actually know them. Yet, in this perpetual disorientation have I begun to recognize a reciprocity and a harmony that rings throughout Tokyo and Hong Kong, like a taut thread connected to the belly button of the orient. It is as if they are twins, fraternal albeit, separated by a sea at birth.

For this recent project, I have attempted to visually elucidate my journey, the hole I have dug, through the two cities, and record the continuities and congruences that run throughout by stacking them on top of each other on film. Opting to use multiple exposures attempts to highlight the surprises one never ceases to find.

It is with great privilege to debut this work at BOP.

When I paint my masterpiece… is a post from: Zōkyō

Yeah, she promised that she’d be right there with me… is a post from: Zōkyō