Rooms measured by tatami mats that smell warm and toasted like just-cleaned stables
The Harajuku Kawaii! Food Court Mall
Clouds that ripple and texture like washi paper
The clean feeling of cycling Nara’s streets in the rain
The view from Kansai International Airport of far-away buildings that dissolve into the warm November sea like a line of smudged chalk
Ferns in the forest that twist like geckos’ tails
The herons and koi and wading fishermen of every river
Pink roses wrapped tight
Talking to people from all over the world around a table in a century-old tea master’s home-turned-guesthouse in Nara. An artist who shows me how to write “ocean” in Japanese. A Swiss girl so young she has the energy to visit seven Japanese cities in seven days. A Colombian in a beautiful Sri Lankan dress. A Catalan book editor. A retired Japanese docent now living in Washington, D.C.
Spider webs sticky and orange, like juice concentrate that’s been left sitting with the lid left off
Gasps of light tearing through bamboo forests
Babies in kimonos
Adults in kimonos
Muscle-legged boys in hot pants rickshaw-ing couples around Kyoto’s temples
The hot foot tingle of a day spent stomping around Tokyo
A man in white cropped trousers and t-shirt smoking a cigarette outside Sensō-ji in the middle of Tokyo while his pet pig gets photographed by schoolgirls
Pavements smashed with fallen plum and persimmon
Allotments everywhere
Pickled plums that look like shrivelled balls
Sesame dressing
Thatched roofs
All the moss
All the mushrooms
Drains where wild orchids grow
Wild boar in temple forests
Bamboo vibrating in the wind like violin strings being pulled tight
The wide-legged, soft cardiganned silhouettes of so many young women
I can’t wait to visit Japan someday. Your post just made me long for it even more!
Thanks Jill! Nice to hear from you. Hope you’re doing great!