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19 years ago I moved from West Virginia to Tamano, Japan for a year-long high school exchange program through the Rotary club. It was one of the most impactful, perplexing, and exciting experiences of my life. I wrote a blog called Thousands of Miles from Home about my time spent in the country and also published selected writings into a book.
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I’ve been working my way through a number of Murakami novels that slipped through the cracks in my earlier reading. The latest is South of the Border, West of the Sun which was short, sweet, and satisfyingly strange.
For those headed to Japan, my friend recently penned a travel guide to Murakami novels that includes the real-life locations from every book. It was quite exciting to discover physical locations featured in the fictional tales.
Winter in Tokyo is a special time as snow is rare and gives the temples an even more peaceful demeanor. Below are a few of my favorites shots from the trip. You can check all the photos on the web album.
The Robot Restaurant, featuring life-size robots who do battle for your pleasure
Five G Synth Shop, you place for everything analog in Harajuku
After an absolutely fantastic week in Tokyo I’m headed to ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය – the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Kendall and I will be spending the day in Singapore before reaching our final destination.
For now, I leave you with a shot of the Doge sculpture at Tokyo Shibuya station.
This week I’m headed back to Japan, a place that is near to my heart after living in Tamano, Osaka, and Tokyo in my younger years. In preparation for the trip it was fun reading through my old blog posts written while I was an exchange student in 2004.
You can find the full dump of the posts from Japan at Thousands of Miles from Home.
While cleaning out a closet to post a few items on Yerdle I re-discovered a hard drive with a copy of my blog from 2004. At the time I was living in Tamano, Japan with three host families and studying as a first-year high school student. As I held the clunky drive in my hand a flood of memories rushed into my mind. I could smell the seaside and taste the takoyaki.
Portland has a number of wonderful offerings, including the most authentic Japanese Tea Garden I’ve seen in the US. The layout is traditional, the guides fantastic, and scenery thought-provoking. If you’re going to be in the area the garden is a must-see.
