A whirlwind two weeks has come to an end. The other day I went to Hokkaido for the second time in my life.

The purpose was to photograph new products, visit factories, and pay a courtesy visit to STRIDE LAB NISEKO.

As soon as I arrived at New Chitose Airport, I received a call from the photographer. When I contacted him, he told me, "In order to shoot with a drone, I need to apply for filming permits in two places," and further, "I'm currently filming for another project, so can you help me?" He then sent me his contact information via LINE.

For the first one, I filled out the registration form on my cell phone and they handled it over the phone, but the second one was tougher. They were adamant that they couldn't give me permission to shoot the next day. Apparently, normally you need to apply a week in advance. But I wasn't going to back down just because of that. I had come from Osaka, and the photographer had come from Fukuoka to Hokkaido for this purpose... I explained the situation, and I think my feelings were conveyed to my superiors, because they would make an exception and prepare an application if I could come to a certain place by 4:00 PM today...

Although it was quite different from the original plan, we changed our destination, drove a rental car, and successfully obtained a filming permit.

Upon arriving in Hokkaido, we encountered some trouble, but managed to clear it.

Then we went to STRIDE LAB NISEKO.

This shop is located in a corner of a complex called CAMP & GO, and next to it is a shop selling plants, nuts, etc.

The building next door is a coffee shop called SPROUT. The overall atmosphere is very stylish and comfortable. And the background music selection is great!

The next morning, I decided to join a group run that is held every Wednesday from 6am.

Running along the trail while looking at Mt. Yotei was incredibly pleasant, and everyone had smiles on their faces!

I'm so jealous that such a great trail is so close by! I can understand why people move to Hokkaido.

After the run, everyone brought melon, tomatoes, cold soup, bread, and coffee. It felt great to start the morning off right. Naturally, conversations with everyone else who participated flowed.

Director Otaguro, who will be shooting the video, will be arriving on site in the afternoon, so we first took still photos of Mako-chan, the manager of STRIDE LAB NISEKO, who cooperated with the filming, and the energetic and funky Sakka-chan.

My first impression was that the location was simply great. The scenery was truly amazing, unlike anything else in Japan.

I took some photos of new models and current models, and I got some pretty good shots, so I went to get something to eat.

This is also the birthplace of soup curry, so we went to a local restaurant. It was delicious.

The director joined us just after 2:00 PM. We headed for the summit of Iwaonupuri, filming wherever we found a good spot along the way.

We also flew the drone. *Since we had permission to film, we were allowed to fly it to our heart's content. Then the director asked, "Do you have that mobile battery?" "Hmm, what's up?" "I was trying to check the drone's filming on my phone, but my phone's battery was dead...sweat" "Director! You should have told me first!" We asked everyone, but none of them had a mobile battery, *I should have taken the MS-LB3 and cable with me, but..." "The director asked us to download the DJI app, and although I was breaking out in a cold sweat as my phone had just under 40% battery left, we somehow managed to get it done. Filming finished without a hitch.

It was past 9:30 PM when we descended the mountain after dark. We finished eating ramen around 11:00 PM. We gathered at 3:50 AM the next morning. Thank you to everyone for your hard work.

Mornings in Hokkaido come early, so I asked the models to gather together so I could take some good photos before the sun rose.

In the end, the footage was good and the director gave the OK. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Following on from the previous work Natty Shorts, the next work, Onion Hoody, is scheduled to be released next month. I asked the same cameraman to film it, so I'm looking forward to the finished video. *Sorry to the director for raising the bar lol

By the way, have you all seen the previous video → NattyShorts ?

Once again, I realized that Hokkaido is a fascinating place. Next time I want to go there...

Now that we are in August, the scorching heat continues, so please take care of yourselves.

Hokkaido is cool in the summer, so I recommend it.