• I got married and went to the French Polynesian for my honeymoon
• started my own photography business
• become addicted to Twitter
• fell into koiwai milk coffee depression
• started preparing to giving photography tours of Japan
• caught up with friends and family
• tried ton katsu in just about every Japanese restaurant in my area and was disappointed every time.
• as much as I miss teaching, traveling, living in Japan, I never want to live there again
• as much as I never want to live in Japan again, I want to visit as much as I can afford (strange huh?)

Those are the main highlights that I can think of. I still have a lot of images from Japan to post on this site, but recently all my time and energy has gone to my wife, family and my photography business. Hopefully I will update again… within a year!

3rd Prize:
Geo Peter

2nd Prize:
Risparmiainrete

Grand Prize:
gLf

Congratulations to the winners and please contact me about how to get your prize!

Prizes:
There will be 3 prizes. Grand Prize is $209 by way of PalPay. 2nd Prize will get two 8×10″ photos of your choice from my gallery and 3rd Prize will get one 5×7″ photo of your choice from my gallery.

Rules/Requirements:
The contest will last until Saturday, March 28th 2009, 11:59pm EST (I will check the time of the comments), unless I do not have at least 200 entries and if that happens I will extend the contest until I get 250 entries (don’t think this will be a problem though). Most importantly….

You have to leave a comment so I know how you entered. No comment = no entries, no exceptions. Also, if you win the Grand Prize, you must have/sign up for a PalPay account (it’s free). PayPal is the only way I can pay the winner.

There is no maximum for number of entries and the winner will be selected using Random.org If you entered my last contest by adding links, you are still eligible for this one for adding the same links, as long as the links are still there AND you leave a comment on this post to let me know.

How to enter:
Get one entry for doing each/any of the following:

• Add the following link to your blogroll: Photography of Evan Pike
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Japan Daily Photo
• Subscribe by email to my feed using the following link: Subscribe to Japan Photo Guide by Email (make sure pop up blocker is off or it may not work)
• Digg, Stumble or use any other social sharing service to share a post from Japan Photo Guide. Up to two entries maximum for this one.

Get three entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Add the following link to your blogroll: Evan Pike Photography Blog
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Babibubebo Friends
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Japan Photo Guide

Get five entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Write a short blog entry about this contest and link back here.
• Write a short blog entry about any photo of mine from the gallery at Photography of Evan Pike. To get a copy of the photograph, click the “Share Photo” button which is above the photos in the galleries, then click on “get a link” for different size options.
• Write a short blog entry about any previous post on Japan Photo Guide and link back to the post you found it on. You can even write one disagreeing with me if you want.
• Write a short blog entry about any previous post on Evan Pike Photography Blog and link back to the post you found it on.
• Spend less than $10 at Photography of Evan Pike.

Get 10+ entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Spend more than $10 at Photography of Evan Pike for 15 entries. Buy any photograph, gift item (like a cup, magnet, puzzle, and so on) or combination of both and for every $10 you spend, you get 15 entries. Spend $20, you get 30 entries!
• Contribute to Japan Photo Guide for up to 20 entries! You can write about any place in Japan or about Japanese culture…even if I have already wrote about it. You get 10 entries for just submitting it to me by email (not submitting it by comment but you still have to post a comment on this post to make sure I received your submission) and another 10 bonus entries if your post is good and I decide it makes the cut. I may or may not use it before the contest is over, but if I accept it, whether I post it before or after the contest ends, you will still get the 20 entries. 150 word minimum, MUST BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WRITING, photographs not necessary and by submitting to me, you agree to let me use and post it here on Japan Photo Guide. You will be given credit and a link if you have something you want me to link to.

Good luck with the contest, check back for updates and let me know if you have any questions!

You have to leave a comment so I know how you entered. No comment = no entries, no exceptions. Also, if you win, you must have/sign up for a PalPay account (it’s free).

Get one entry for doing each/any of the following:

• Add the following link to your blogroll: Photography of Evan Pike
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Japan Daily Photo
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Blogs On Japan
• Subscribe by email to my feed using the following link: Subscribe to Photographer’s Guide to Japan by Email (make sure pop up blocker is off if it doesn’t work)

Get two entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Add the following link to your blogroll: Babibubebo Friends
• Add the following link to your blogroll: Japan Photo Guide

Get five entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Write a short blog entry about this contest and link back here.
• Write a short blog entry about any photo of mine from the gallery at Photography of Evan Pike. To get a copy of the photograph, click the “Share Photo” button which is above the photos in the galleries, then click on “forums / blogs / etc” for different size options.
• Write a short blog entry about any photograph from Japan Photo Guide and link back to the post you found it on.

Get ten entries for doing each/any of the following:

• Spend $5 at Photography of Evan Pike. Buy any photograph, gift item (like a cup, magnet, puzzle, and so on) or combination of both and for every $5 you spend, you get 10 entries. Spend $20, you get 40 entries!
• Add all 5 of the above mentioned links to your blogroll and Subscribe to Photographer’s Guide to Japan by Email. EDIT: Sorry if this part is unclear, you get 10 entries opposed to the maximum of 8 that you would get. So you are getting 2 bonus entries here, not an additional 10. Sorry for the confusion!

Good luck with the contest, check back for updates and let me know if you have any questions!

Anyway, Japan Photo Guide is once again going under some design changes as I will be going back to Freshy (v2.0) now that I can have 3 columns.  While I have made a fair amount of changes, I am still having a few problems that aren’t worked out yet, for example, if you click on a single post the left sidebar disappears.  Please let me know if you find anything strange going on!  Thanks!