Drone Videos of Northeast Asia

Two-time DVA winner Timelab.pro created this magnificent drone video (itself nominated for Drone Video of the Week) from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East.  The video includes footage of the Winter Surf Challenge - yes, surfing in Siberia!  It also includes footage of some of the area's spectacular natural scenery, including the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano, the Parantuka river, and the Vilyuchinsky Pass.  The video earned a nomination in the Extreme Sports category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

Several-time Drone Video of the Week Finalist Makhorov brings us this stunning drone video from Russia's Altai Mountains, home of some of the world's most remote and beautiful scenery.  The range, which runs through southern Siberia and also covers portions of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, has peaks as high as 4.5k meters above sea level (14.8k ft.).  Sparsely populated and studded with a number of giant lakes, the Altai's are famously difficult to access (particularly from within Russia) due to a lack of passes.    

The Great Wall is perhaps the most widely recognized site in China and one of the most well known in the world.  The wall, which was built over centuries to protect the Chinese heartland from the ever-present threat of invasion over the Central Asian plains, spans a total of 21k km (13k mi).  Best accessible from the Chinese capital Beijing, the wall is a monument to the human will.  Contributor and pilot Flyusanywhere used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to create this magnificent aerial mini tour of the Great Wild Wall.

Following a multi-decade boom, Shanghai (China's largest city) has one of the world's most impressive skylines.  With several skyscrapers topping 300m (1k ft), this city on the Yangtze River Delta has regained its once considerable role as a world city.  In this drone video, AirVuz contributor Mattcoq flies his DJI Phantom 4 Professional over China's largest city, including the Bund, the massive highways leading into the city center, and the Huangpu River, which divides the western side of the city from Pudong.

Japan's capital Tokyo is center of the largest metropolitan area in the world.  In this video, which was nominated for the Drone Video of the Year Awards in the Cities category, contributor Big Head Greg takes us on an aerial tour of this gigantic city.  It is situated at the confluence of several rivers on the east coast of the island of Honshu (the largest of Japan's four main islands), at the head of Tokyo Bay on the Pacific Ocean.  Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and will be hosting its second in 2020. 

Top content creator and drone pilot Zimy Da Kid created this epic aerial tour of Japan, which he shot with a DJI Mavic Pro drone supplemented with ground camera footage.  The video takes us from first from capital city Tokyo and then to Kanazawa, during the height of the  cherry blossom season.  Then he proceeds to ancient Kyoto and its magnificent temples, and from there to Nara, Osaka, the Nachi waterfall, and Mt. Fuji. This video is a nominee in our Drone Video Awards' Countries & Regions category.

Contributor Majestic, winner of the innaugural Drone Video of the Week Award, created this stunning aerial tour of his country, South Korea.  Using a DJ Mavic Pro drone, the video contains amazing aerial footage of the Seoul and Busan skylines, as well as other sights from across the country.  The "star" of the video is the Lotte World Tower, Seoul's tallest building and the fifth tallest in the world as of year-end 2018.  Completed in 2016, the 115 floor skyscraper stands at 555 meters (over 1.8k ft.).

South Korea hosted its second olympics in 2018, having hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.  In connection with the XXIII Winter Olympics Games held in Pyeongchang (a city in the northeastern part of the country, not far from Seoul), AirVuz contributor Axlfro was hired to capture drone footage from around the country.  The result is a full blown aerial collage of this astonishingly beautiful country.  The video features footage of PyeongChang, as well as Gangneung, Samchock, and Sokcho.

Japan's sixth largest city, Kobe is a seaport town lying on the north side of Osaka Bay on the southern side of the island of Honshu.  Considered part of the greater Osaka area, Kobe is Japan's fourth largest seaport as measured by freight volume.  In this video, contributor Styfly Studio uses a DJI Mavic Pro drone to take us on an aerial tour of Kobe.  You'll get a bird's eye view of this important (and very old) seaport, whose harbor is dotted with artificial islands to increase the city's useable land area.

Although China is the world's most populous country, most of its 1.2 billion inhabitants live on or near the coast.  Parts of the vast interior of the country are much less densely populated.  One of these is the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which sits in the north-central part of the country and which was once part of the Gansu Province.  Contributor Mattcoq traveled to Ninxia with a DJI Phantom 3 drone, creating a spectacular aerial video of this land which features landscapes ranging from mountains to desert.   

Contributor Daniel Kordan has nearly a million followers on Instagram, and it's because of content like this masterpiece from Mongolia.  Using a DJI Mavic 2 combined with ground camera footage, he created a spectacular portrait of this fascinating Northeast Asian land.  The video features epic footage of mountains, the vast Mongolian Desert, the Mongolian Plateau, and even nomadic horsemen. It's a finalist in the Countries/Regions category for the second annual Drone Video Awards.

Banpo Hangang Park is situated on the Han River in Seoul, the great metropolis which is both the capital of and the and largest city in South Korea.  AirVuz contributor Roam with John created an amazing video by flying his drone over this park during the day and also at night.  You'll get a splendid view of the park as well as the gleaming skyline of Seoul.  Having been thrust on the world stage as host of the 1988 Summer Olympics, Seoul is now the center of one of the world's largest metropolitan areas.    

Contributor and FPV pilot Gespar used a racing drone to capture China's answer to the iconic "Hollywood" sign in the hills over Los Angeles.  The city is Qingdao (Tsingtao), and it's one of the biggest cities in northeastern China.  Better known for its beer, it's now home to a multi-billion dollar film production studio.  Which is why the sign says (translated from Mandarin) is "Movie Metropolis of the East".  This video was shot from a racing drone being flown first person view ("FPV") with video goggles.  

Contributor and drone pilot borje_zy brings us this amazing aerial tour of Tianjin, China's fourth largest city by population.  The northeasternmost of China's major cities, Tianjin is also the principal port serving the capital city Beijing which is only a 90 minute drive away.  Founded in the 15th century, Tianjin also has great cultural and historical importance, particularly during the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the 20th century which inaugurated a long period of civil unrest in China.

China's capital Beijing is one of the world's few large cities not located on a coast or major river.  Rather, the great city once known as Peking owes its existence to being at the north end of the North China Plain.  Surrounded on all other sides by mountains, Peking served a historical role guarding the approaches from the Eurasian steppe into what is in effect the heart of China on the great alluvial plain.  Contributor borje_xy created this amazing drone videos of the mountains surrounding the capital city.

Japan is known in part for its "castles in the sky": hilltop or mountaintop castles which can appear to be floating on the clouds in the right atmospheric conditions.  Top contributor and Instagram phenom Danielkordan definitely got it right with this stunning aerial capture of Echizen Ono Castle, which does indeed appear to be floating on the clouds.  It's located in the Fukui Prefecture in western Honshu.  The castle was constructed in the late 16th century, and has been modified numerous times since then.

Shot on the ever popular and always impressive Mavic Air drone, this four-minute tour of the Pacific island nation of Japan by contributor nauj is fantastic. The country's origins trace back to pre-historic civilization, seeing it with modern technology is quite the treat! From the volcanos to the snowcapped forests, towering Buddhist structures to the sea's endless horrizon, you get a miniature tour of the amazing country in this drone video, which was a Nominee for the Drone Video of the Week and Month.

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor Makhorov brings us this DVOW-winning piece from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far Eastern region, between the Sea of Ohotsk and the Bering Sea. Opening with some epic shots of the peninsula's stunning coastline, most of the video was shot in the largely volcano-covered interior of the region. The video includes footage of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest Eurasian volcano with a peak elevation of about 4.75k meters above sea level (roughly 15.6k ft.).