GALAXY Note documents bicycle trip through Japan

* Live Reporters’ comments are individual opinions and do not represent the official stance of Samsung Electronics.

Hi! This is Yun-Deok Lee, a college student in Tokyo, Japan and Global Reporter. With the release of the GALAXY Note, a special project was conceived to illustrate the versatility of the new device. I’d like to invite you to take a look at “Tour de GALAXY” with us.

Tour de GALAXY is a communication-centered GALAXY Note promotional tour project. Two GALAXY Riders began in Tokyo, traveling by bicycle, on a two-month journey to capture the daily scenery of Japan and Japan’s world heritage sites. Their observations, photos, and illustrations are updated in real-time on the official website (http://galaxy-note.jp/tour-de-galaxy/) and Twitter of “Tour de GALAXY.” Even though we may be thousands, or tens of thousands, of miles away, we can travel along with them and see what they see.

Let’s take a look at some of the works made with GALAXY Note by our two GALAXY riders during their long trip.  These wonderful images are sure to give you the travel bug!

First let’s meet the two GALAXY riders for this project.

On the left is Mori Naoya, and to the right is Shinnoske. As you can see, along with their personal profiles are profiles for their bicycles! With such a long journey, proper equipment is important, and so is determination!  It looks like our riders have both!

The map below shows their progress on week 3. With the GALAXY Note, mapping your route is a cinch!  Let’s look at how far they’ve already gone.

The two GALAXY riders took off in Tokyo, and traveled through Shizuoka (静岡), Nagoya (名古屋), and Osaka (大阪), before leaving by boat for Naha (那覇) in Okinawa (沖縄) They are staying at Kagoshima (鹿児島) on the southern tip of Kyushu (九州). It looks like a long way, but it can be hard to tell just from the map. I was curious and looked into the details The distance travelled was 768km on land, 2,297km on sea, for a total of 3,065km. That’s pretty amazing for only three weeks!

Now, let’s take a look at the beautiful heritage of Japan captured by GALAXY Note!

The theme of our riders’ trip is ‘visiting the world heritage sites’ using the GALAXY Note, and these images aim to introduce the various world heritage spots and tourist attractions of Japanese regions. The first rows are drawings by Naoya, and the second rows are done by Shinnoske. Their talent is really impressive! After finishing their scheduled activities for the day, they upload diary entries and illustrations through the official project blog. Below is a diary entry written by Shinnoske. It may be hard to understand if you don’t speak Japanese, but the pictures tell a great story!

The drawings below are about an indispensable part of the trip – food! The peaceful and beautiful daily scenery of Japan and famous foods of each region were captured with GALAXY Note.  The mixture of great food and beautiful scenery are well-captured here, and make me want to be there. Right now!

Lastly, our GALAXY riders created images of people they met on the road.

The drawings show people from various areas and classes, such as a clerk, street artist, bicycle traveler, foreign backpacker, and a fellow passenger on a ship. It’s easy to see that they were not simply promoting the product, but focused on giving a real sense of their travels through the places they saw and the people they met. The GALAXY riders do a great job of showing the possibilities of communication through the GALAXY Note.

This tour let me see some of the possibilities of the GALAXY Note, and I was again surprised with the utility and convenience. I’d like to get my hands on one of them and take off on a journey right now, and I encourage you to do the same!

*Related posts:

Beckham plays Beethoven’s Ode to Joy

Fine Art and Tech-Smart! Social media and Samsung Netherlands