2010 Daimonji Fire Festival Video is here.

Tonight there will be a video here of the 2010 Kyoto Daimonji Fire Festival. This video will be my first Video On Demand (VOD) experiment. That is, there will be a fee of $1.50 (Paypal or credit card) to download the full video.

A previous short video is here.

I sincerely welcome any candid comments and opinions on this experiment.

If you’ve been watching this site closely, you might have noticed that I’ve been moving toward establishing myself as an independent video journalist. I have a background as a newspaper reporter, and have long wondered whether I could make it as a “new media” entrepreneur, doing feature stories on Kyoto people, especially craftsmen and women, events, places and nature. Well, not Kyoto only, but with Kyoto as my specialty.

Recent events have spurred me to get going on this, lay it out and see what people, especially Kyoto residents and Kyotophiles, think about it. My inclination is to avoid advertising models, since they really don’t seem to work. If I am able to get good video tonight, I’ll do a rush edit and upload a video accessed via Paypal. I think Kyotophiles will be more interested in very high production value features, interviews and profiles, however. This is the kind of program I’ve set my sights on, and my plan is to offer the programs by subscription, quarterly or preferably, semi-annually, like a channel subscription. Of course, this depends on me being able to deliver quality features.

Before I go on too long here, if you have any comments on this plan, please let me know what you think. Honestly, realistically. Slap some sense into me if you have to.