Who needs the magic of photo editing when you’ve got the power of taido?

Okinawa, in a lot of ways, is like Japan’s version of Hawaii. With a tropical climate and rich indigenous culture, it’s a uniquely appealing place to live, but on the other hand, being so far away from the rest of the country means that residents are sometimes compelled to leave in pursuit of their academic or professional goals.

And so Shinya Nomura (@1upcontinue on Twitter) recently found himself having to say good-bye to a friend who’s moving away from Okinawa, off to Japan’s main island of Honshu where Tokyo, Osaka, and the vast majority of Japan’s other major metropolises are located. Before his friend departed, though, Nomura wanted to take a picture together, and afterwards he shared the commemorative snapshot on Twitter.

▼ “Farewell, friend. When I head to the mainland next year, let’s get wild together again.”

It’s a nice sentiment, but one could argue that it’s sort of undercut by the silly Photoshopping. Really, what was the point of flipping the photo of Nomura’s friend upside down? Granted, it’s a really convincing job, with the background and shadows all aligned far more realistically than just about any digitally altered photos we’ve seen before, but that just makes it weirder because it implies that the photo editing took a long time, right?

Except, actually, producing this photo only took a couple of seconds, even if you watch the entire process in slow motion.

Okay, if we’re accounting for everything that went into taking the half-upside-down photo, we should add in all the time Nomura and his buddy have spent training in taido, an Okinawan martial art that draws power from the momentum produced by spinning and twisting motions. Taido demonstrations look like a mix of combat arts and acrobatic techniques, as seen in these other photos and videos shared by Nomura.

And if you need further proof that the farewell photo is entirely legit, a freeze-frame closeup on Nomura’s friend’s shows that he’s actually intensely concentrating on not slamming face-first into the ground.

https://twitter.com/soralove525/status/1045022902481907712

As alluded to in Nomura’s original tweet, this is merely a temporary good-bye, as he’ll be heading to Honshu himself next year, at which time he’ll be reunited with his pal. We’re already looking forward to the reunion photo.

Source: Twitter/@1upcontinue via IT Media