In middle of winter, I found myself flying to northern Europe for series of photo shoots.
With such little daylight, I constantly felt heavy and sleepy there.
How brave are the people in Northern Europe to embrace such long and cold winter!
In Stockholm, by chance, I had a happy reunion with Ida whom I got to know in California.
She invited me to her place where I enjoyed the warm hospitality and the traditional Christmas rituals.
Just came back from a road trip. We drove north up to Portland. It was for a Japanese travel magazine called “TRANSIT”. We’d drop off at old diners or drive-ins in small towns on the way and chat with local people and take pictures of them. “You take any pictures you want. I’ve been here for a long long time. You know what? This is my favorite place.” They had let me take a lot of pictures of them even though I was just a stranger.
Though I even felt puzzled a bit over their extreme open-mindedness, their big heart and stomachs left an impression on me .The trip ended all too soon…
I’ve been living in Northern California for a year and a bit. I stayed in Berkeley for a year and had just moved to SF last month. Although many say enviously that it must be warm throughout the year, SF is always like in autumn, so I sometimes miss the humidity of the summer or feeling the cold air on my face in winter. Because I am pitching on a different wave of time flow from Tokyo, laid back, easy going, I feel kinda guilty, thinking “Is it right to be here…?” But I keep saying to myself as if I am chanting “it’s OK, it’s OK” then I start to think “well… what am I up to today?”, “what time do I want to wake up tomorrow?”, “where will the next destination be?” My life goes on like that, so far.