In March, Jaron Schneider and I traveled to Japan for press coverage at the CP+ photo and imaging show in Yokohama . After four days covering the show, we had a decision to make: go home, or continue the trip and head somewhere else. So, we decided to go north.

Full Disclosure: This story was made possible by Sony and the Alpha 7 V. Get yours today .

The plan was to spend the rest of our trip visiting lesser-known cities both up to and in Hokkaido, traveling entirely by train (both high-speed and local) without over-researching where we were going.

I wanted to show up and see what was there, rather than spend the whole trip building a shot list and hunting for predetermined moments. Especially since we’d be visiting cities I knew almost nothing about, that felt like the right approach.

For the entire journey, I shot with the Sony a7 V and the video above was shot entirely on the a7 V by Jaron.…