First announced at CES back in January 2020, Woven City, Toyota's $10 billion futuristic living laboratory near Mount Fuji, is set to welcome its first 100 residents later this year. The city is designed to test and develop driverless cars, smart homes, and robotics in a real-world environment. When complete, the project will house up to 2,000 people.

Blueprints feature solar-powered homes equipped with AI that monitors residents' health and provides daily life assistance. Robotics will play a key role in making life more convenient and efficient. 

Streets will be divided into three types of paths: for pedestrians, fast-moving traffic, and slower vehicles, ensuring a safe and smooth flow for everyone.

Select researchers and their families, termed "Weavers," will initially occupy the city to create technologies addressing societal problems. 

Limited visits for the public are expected by 2026.

I love this concept and would love to see this at some point.

Shirakawa Village, over 250 years old, during its annual fire defense test.

Good for, good vibes.

As an end-of-year recap, I selected some of my favorite moments and photos from this year. These were shot with four cameras and two smartphones, including my Fujifilm X100V, Ricoh GR III, Nikon Zf with the 40mm f/2, Leica D-Lux 8, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and OnePlus Open, across four locations: Okinawa, Tokyo, the Jersey Shore, and New York.

I believe exercises like this highlight the emotional attachment we have to our photos. Each image is tied to the time, place, and experience of when it was captured, and that personal connection shapes how we view our own photos—often through a lens others might not share.

With that in mind, here are my favorite photos from 2024.

This reboot of my blog is still fresh, so there aren’t many readers yet. To those who’ve stopped by, thank you. I appreciate you and hope you and your family had a wonderful year.

Here’s to an amazing 2025!

My experience with the Leica D-Lux 8 has been mixed so far, but I do like some of the Leica color profiles available. Here’s a few shots from the Leica D-Lux 8 showing Classic CLS & Eternal ETN colors applied to JPEGs SOOC using the Leica FOTOS app on my iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18.2.

I’m hoping Leica will add these color profiles in camera soon with a firmware update.

📷 Shot with my Leica D-Lux 8