I've been shooting videos on the themes of rainy days and the quiet of night, mainly in the Setouchi region.
The video I'd like to introduce today is a work titled
4K HDR | Rain Sounds ASMR | A Rainy Walk Under Sakura Trees | Midnight Kobe, Japan | Binaural Sounds You can enjoy beautiful HDR footage of late-night rain and cherry blossoms in full bloom.
"Late-night cherry blossoms" that I couldn't capture in Kagawa Prefecture
In regional cities like Kagawa Prefecture where I live, there are few lights that illuminate the entire city late at night, and even when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, there are very few places where you can take photos at night.
Even if there are well-lit places, there are often times when you have to pay to enter and the admission time is limited, or you cannot enter at night
The timing of a rainy spring night with the cherry blossoms in full bloom is a rare one,
and I was poring over a map of the Setouchi region while searching for a place to capture it.
Ikuta River, Kobe, found on a map
One thing that caught my eye was
the row of cherry blossom trees along the Ikuta River in front of Shin-Kobe Station Kobe is one of the cities in the Kansai region that has the most nighttime lights, and the city lights are always on even late at night.
I thought that if it were to rain in Kobe on a rainy night, I would be able to capture both the cherry blossoms and the rain beautifully on film.
Late-night photography while chasing rain clouds
The photo was taken on March 27, 2025.
The cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom due to the sudden warm weather at the end of March.
I arrived in Kobe, but it wasn't raining all the time, so had to watch the rain radar and wait patiently for the right timing for rain to fall in the middle of the night
At the moment when the rain finally began to fall quietly, the cherry blossom petals and the sound of the rain blended beautifully, creating a beautiful scene as if time had stopped.
Kobe has memories
In fact, I previously attended a vocational school in Kobe for two years and lived in Hyogo Prefecture for a total of seven years. As
a result, I knew the area well and naturally knew which roads were safe, even late at night, and where the cherry blossoms were.
It was a nostalgic and delightful experience to be able to set up my camera again in Kobe, where I hadn't visited in a long time.
The "freedom" I felt in the city late at night
After finishing filming, I opened my laptop on the side of the road and checked the footage while waiting for the rain to start again.
Strangely, no one paid me any attention .
In regional cities, people might look at me and wonder, "What are you doing so late at night?", but in big cities at night, no one interferes and everyone goes about their own time. Perhaps
that "freedom" is what makes cities so appealing.
Kobe's night lights captured in HDR
This video was shot in
4K HDR The rain-soaked asphalt, the reflections of streetlights, the lights of buildings, and the colors of the wet cherry blossom petals are all reproduced with the three-dimensionality and depth that only HDR can provide.
Please enjoy the tranquility of the Kobe night and the gentle expression of the cherry blossoms.
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