A Time-Lapse Take on Japan's Sights

Set aside five minutes in your day to check out "Land of the rising sun," a video by Todor Vankov showing time-lapse scenes shot around Japan. While shooting, Vankov visited Tokyo (watch for the iconic Tokyo Tower), Kyoto (Yasaka Shrine in the Gion district and the torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine are unmistakeable), and several locations in Kyūshū, including Fukuoka, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima. In this last prefecture he filmed the volcano Sakurajima (beginning at 4:08 in the video) on August 18—unfortunately leaving the site just hours before the highly active peak blasted ash skyward in its 500th eruption of 2013. (There's a video of the 5-kilometer ash plume right here.)

(Banner photo: the western gate of Kyoto's Yasaka Shrine. Still from video © Todor Vankov.)