Dragons and Yellow Lanterns at Yokohama Chinatown

Yokohama Chinatown Part II: One of the most stylish Chinatowns I've ever seen. Almost every corner there is a pagoda gate with colorful displays from restaurants and shops surrounding the neighborhood. 

These long, yellow lanterns and the dragon-like shape caught my attention and stole the show!

Featured in Flickr's Explore.

Asymmetrical Neon Patterns in Yokohama

Cosmoworld Waterfront Part II: Absolutely loved the dazzling, ever-changing lights at this waterfront in Yokohama. The vibrant colors, cool shapes, and epic reflections make this one of the must-see places at night in the city. 

Featured in Flickr's Explore.

Twilight Skies in Shinjuku City of Tokyo

The 45th floor view of Shinjuku City in Tokyo, Japan. 

This view was well worth the long wait. From watching the last drops of sunlight descending into twilight and into full darkness, it was quite the extraordinary hour. 

Featured in Flickr's Explore.

Blue Vibes Ahead at Shibuya, Tokyo

The iconic Shibuya district in Tokyo, Japan with so much hustle and bustle every day. I added in a blue filter to give off a futuristic vibe for the ever-changing city.

Futuristic Skies + Skyscrapers by the Waterfront

The future is certainly going to be unpredictable. Not just with the architecture, but the colors, the lights that illuminate into the sky...everything will be exciting, abstract, and futuristic. 

I decided to dramatize this photo taken in Yokohama, Japan a bit more by reducing the contrast, stripping out the dark colors, adding in hints of fog, yellow-white lights, pastel hues, and abstract designs into the sky to create an entirely different vibe of the city at night. 

Featured in Flickr's Explore. 

Mix 'n Match: Famous Skyscrapers and Skyline Imagery

City Mashup Part II: Continuing to mix and match different skyscrapers from famous cities all over into one single image. 

Inspired by Big Hero 6, I decided to do my own mashup with a range of skyscrapers at night, tweaking the background colors into a dark, midnight blue hue. 

City Mashup: Visionary Skyscrapers and Blue Lights Imagery

City Mashup Part I: What happens when you mash up a bunch of cities together? 

I'm always just so fascinated by the visuals and the combined cities of San Francisco and Tokyo in Big Hero 6. Inspired by the colors and the combination of the two different cities, I decided to create an image with a bunch of well known skyscrapers from major cities and mix them all up together. 

I wanted to create an otherworldly effect with the skyscrapers by adding in unique graphic effects to the rooftops of buildings, incorporating blue streams of lights going up in the sky, and altering the background colors with a blue tinted hue (as inspired by Perfume's Tokyo Girl MV. 

Featured in Flickr's Explore.

The Star Dust Effect: Night Lights in the City

Come take an elevator ride up 40 floors and peak outside the window into the city streets of Tokyo. 

Skyscrapers, tons of lights, and a tower surround us 360 degrees of the way. 

I decided to have a little bit of fun with this picture, adding in some extra light effects, adding in trails of stars falling from the dark sky. 

Behind the Lens: Kyoto Tower at Night

The tallest tower in Kyoto, Japan offers up views of the entire city, all the calming mountains, forests, and parks along with the famous landmarks and more. 

Streets of Yokohama: Colorful Building Aesthetics

After leaving Yokohama Station, I peered outside at this narrow streetway and immediately loved it. All the buildings are perfectly aligned, with neutral colors first in our view..,then colorful signs further out. The gray cast in the sky added to the cool vibes here, really allowing the neutral hues of the buildings to both blend in and stand out at the same time.  

Streams of Light + Rainbow Reflections at Yokohama

A spectacular night filled with rainbow colors, clear reflections, and blinding lights calls for magical skies. 

I was inspired by the cool streams of lights effect that I saw in a manga and wanted to bring it to life with this photo of the Minato Mirai waterfront in Yokohama, Japan.

Welcome to the Crystal World of Lights

 

Ventured into the Crystal World at Teamlab Borderless, where sights and sounds surround you all 360 degrees of the way. The changing gradient colors, delicate crystals, and streams of lights dazzle right in front of us at every corner, giving us a new taste on reality. Beauty is all around us, if only we pause to truly admire it. 

In Your Eyes: Colorful, Bright Ferris Wheel

One of the coolest, most colorful ferris wheels ever. The lights shined so brightly and altered into all these other unique color combos throughout the night! 

It's fascinating sitting inside of one and watching the hues change right in front of your eyes in this particular angle.

Futuristic City: Dynamic Skyline + Blue Lights Imagery

It's always intriguing when you blend fiction with reality. 

I had so much fun creating this imagery. Inspired by Perfume's Tokyo Girl MV, I decided to create a futuristic world using Yokohama's breathtaking Minato Mirai waterfront as the starting point. 

After changing up the hues of the photo, enhancing the saturation and contrast, and lightening the overall effect, I added in cool blue details across the image. Various versions of blue gradient lights are shooting down from the sky with little snow droplets spread across it. Small sparkles are also added across the buildings to spread more magic into the air.

The Magnificent Skytree: Towering Above the City

 

The tallest tower in the world is sitting pretty in Tokyo, Japan. 

Besides offering elevating 360 degree views of the entire city and surrounding areas, there's also a ton of shopping and dining at the indoor mall! 

Yokohama's Waterfront and Cityscape Fantasy at Night

Cosmoworld Ferris Wheel: One of my favorite ferris wheels ever - I spent so much time 69 floors above just staring at the dazzling, bright, ever-changing colors and lights, trying to soak it all in. 

At the Yokohama Landmark Tower, you can see all of the beauty around the Minato Mirai waterfront, decked out with an amusement park, cool-shaped buildings (hotels!), stadiums, freeways, and other spectacular skyscrapers shining brightly at night. 

Forest of Lamps Evolves: When Orange Meets Digital Art

Forest of Lamps Part II: Transcend beyond time--and all boundaries.

Within a few minutes, the lights changed into all different shades of the color wheel-- from green-blue hues to yellow-orange and then eventually venturing into the bright red territory. The mood changes as the colors shift each second, creating a stunning reality that can only be seen right in front of you. 

Yokohama Chinatown's Eclectic Pagoda Entrances

Yokohama Chinatown Part I: The traditional beauty of all the spectacular Chinatown entrances and pagodas. 

I loved wandering through all of the entrances of Yokohama Chinatown and marveling at the uniqueness of each of these! This one lit up as twilight approached and I decided capture this one from the side to give it an even cooler vibe. 

Refreshing Streets of Tokyo: An Evening in Shinjuku

Stumbling upon the streets of the busy Shinjuku district in Tokyo, Japan.

I saw this not-so-hidden alleyway on a brisk evening and loved the way the restaurants, display signs, and lamps lit up the night. 

The Tokyo Street Scene at Twilight

When you're inside a tall building and you peer outside, you mostly just look straight across at the skyscraper views, etc...but sometimes staring right down below is even more enticing and thrilling (depending on if you're scared of heights or not). 

It was amazing looking outside the window at the freeway traffic, cars, and the daily lives of the people in the downtown area at twilight. The twinkle of lights and the darkening of skies makes for pretty awesome people-watching from above.