Tag: travel

by jad

Japan Trip: Tokyo, Grey Skies, and the Lucky Dragon

By the time we got to Tokyo, the weather had shifted, and I started to regret my decision to load Fujicolor 100 in my camera. That first weekend ended up being very grey and rainy, and I figured the whole roll would be trashed. That influenced the sort of shots I went for. But no! It seems my trusty Nikon Lite-Touch with the dinky little flash could handle it, and it even took some really good artistic liberties like with this first shot. I did switch back to Kodak Color Plus after this roll, but I’m glad I was tempted … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Tokyo, Grey Skies, and the Lucky Dragon” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Kyoto in Abstraction, Bound for Tokyo

This is the moment after walking for about 30 minutes and realizing that the Chaos Gallery had, indeed, recently closed and been cleared; so recently, in fact, there were still people in the space finalizing the process. So, in honor of that moment, here are my most chaotic shots from Kyoto. x Kyoto in abstraction. x This gentleman smiled at me after seeing me taking pictures of the Shinkansen. Train dork recognizes train dork. We were going to Tokyo next. There was a train just like this heading there every 5 minutes. The next day was Mountain Day, so everyone … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Kyoto in Abstraction, Bound for Tokyo” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Kyoto and the Manufacture of “Japonica”

There seems to be a whole industry in Kyoto for “Japonica,” of which great parts of the city are the epicenter—the site where Japan’s “authentic past” is staged, mediated, and consumed. One reason for this is very material: Kyoto was largely spared from U.S. bombing in WWII, meaning its temples, shrines, and machiya houses provide actual historical continuity. And yet, much of this is also manufactured: for international tourism, Kyoto functions as a museum of Japaneseness. Its Japonica is carefully staged, and the staging itself becomes part of the experience. Japan as wooden townhouses reconstructed to look old, Japan as … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Kyoto and the Manufacture of “Japonica”” →

by jad

Japan Trip: The Cat Temple and the Face House

The one place we prioritized once we found a coin locker for our suitcase and sat down for lunch at the station was @nyan_nyanji, the Cat Temple on the outskirts of town. As millennials from the internet, it just felt like that had to be the one religious site of the many religious sites in Kyoto we couldn’t miss, if we could only see one. It would be more than an hour by bus and back, and it did not disappoint. I’ll post a fever dream of a Reel about it shortly. x The second place we prioritized after getting … Continue reading “Japan Trip: The Cat Temple and the Face House” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Hiroshima (Part III)

Another interesting feature of Hiroshima’s topography that I learned on Tommy’s tour is that the reason why the city has so many iconic trams is that it’s simply not possible to dig any subways here, given that it was built on reclaimed marshland. We rode trams of all vintages, including one of the only two trams that survived the bomb still running today. This is one of Hiroshima’s hibakujumoku (被爆樹木) or survivor trees, an a-bombed camphor at the base of the hill leading up to the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art. I’ll post a highlight video from that visit shortly. … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Hiroshima (Part III)” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Hiroshima, August 6 (Part II)

Very soon after the official Peace Day ceremony, we joined Tommy on a walking tour of the city center, learning about the history and geography of Hiroshima and stopping at various landmarks from that fateful day 80 years ago. One thing I didn’t know before Tommy’s tour was that Hiroshima was literally carved out from the sea. The Hiroshima Delta, where the Ota River fans into multiple channels before entering the Seto Inland Sea, was originally a marshy estuary. For centuries, much of what is now central Hiroshima, including the area near the Peace Memorial Park, didn’t exist as solid … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Hiroshima, August 6 (Part II)” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Hiroshima, August 6 (Part I)

We woke up very early on August 6. Our guest house was about a 30-minute walk from Hiroshima’s Peace Park and we wanted to be there as the gates opened to welcome attendees and participants in the 80th commemoration. You can see highlights from that event from the Reel I posted earlier today (tap the tab on my profile to see it). The walk itself was almost as good as the event itself. The 6:00 am sun was still a gentle glow, bathing everything in golden light. There were way more people there than I’d expected, with the sound of … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Hiroshima, August 6 (Part I)” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Nara

But even before going to the Expo 70 Commemorative Park, we took the train to Nara. I am unashamed to say that this was completely Instagram’s influence; one does not simply pass up the opportunity to feed a deer that bows in gratitude. Luckily, Nara was more than just that! We would have explored this cute town even more, but it was only our second morning, and we had an appointment with the Tower of the Sun later that afternoon. And boy did we sacrifice enough sweat and tears (not crying, just sweating from our eye sockets) to the solar … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Nara” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Palestine at the Expo

I must say I was very pleasantly surprised to see Palestine represented in one of the Common Halls at @expo2025japan. So much so that I didn’t really absorb how sad and spartan the booth was until I looked at my photos later. The space looks like a placeholder, making the surreality of this mega-event almost two years into a g—de even more poignant. I was swept up in the energy of the event and didn’t stop to reflect on that on the day. I was just so happy to see this flag in that space, with so many interested looking visitors … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Palestine at the Expo” →

by jad

Japan Trip: Expo 70

The day before we went to @expo2025japan, we made a pilgrimage to @expo70park and the @tower_of_the_sun_museum_shop in particular. I’ll post a Reel from inside of the Tower in a bit. Despite the heat, this place was full of visitors and was truly worth the effort; even though it was a little out of the way, it had Seattle City Center post-Expo vibes – a real destination, not just a curio. My favorite part was, of course, the Tower of the Sun itself, a truly iconic piece of art that we saw echoes of elsewhere in our travels. The Tower has three faces: the Golden Mask … Continue reading “Japan Trip: Expo 70” →