Two weeks in Japan. Hundreds of photos. One creative rabbit hole I couldn’t resist going down. Last year, I created a song as an experiment. I wanted to blend Japanese and English lyrics and see what kind of mood it would create. It turned into something atmospheric and different from anything I’d done before. Then my wife and I spent two incredible weeks in Japan late last year, and the experience stuck with me. Seeing the temples, shrines, and local shops while my wife and I wandered around Kyoto left a lasting impression. When I got back, I realized that the song needed a visual story. So I decided to build a full music video around it. I started by fleshing out the concept and writing a shot list like a real production. Then the fun began. What’s interesting is that many of the locations you see in the video actually started as photos I took while my wife and I wandered around Kyoto. Those images became the foundation for the environments that were later generated and brought to life with AI. It was a fascinating, creative process. Part music creation, part photography, part storytelling, and part AI experimentation. Tools used in the process: Nano Banana Pro (@FlowbyGoogle) – for image generation Midjourney (@midjourney) – for additional image creation Google VEO3 (@FlowbyGoogle) – for video generation Kling 3.0 (@Kling_ai) – for video generation Final Cut Pro (@Apple) – for editing SUNO (@suno) – for song generation Amazing how far the creative toolset has come. If you have an idea in your head, you can now actually build it! Take a minute to watch Rain + Light (雨と光) and tell me what stood out to you. Would love to hear your feedback.