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Some photos from an afternoon walk in the summer of 2012, out in Chiba Prefecture, from Togane to Naruto. It was as always a quiet, lonely walk… quite a relief from the work earlier in the day, and the crowds of Tokyo.
Life in Tokyo can only be interesting and challenging if you make an effort to see it from a different point of view.
This will be my last post for the next three weeks. I’m heading off to Vancouver, Canada today, for some backpacking, slow time walking the streets and sitting in coffee shops, sea kayaking, visiting friends, and, since I’m most likely bringing my bicycle, some riding the horizon. If I can I will write in every now and then, but aside from checking email, I’m going to try to remain computer free as much as possible!
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The wind that issued from the mouth of the tunnel tasted stale and acrid.
Though the camera could see in the dark, I walked almost blind, feeling for the rough surprise of ogre skin.
End of the line: even as an adult coming across a human relic overgrown with the encroaching wood still conjures up the excitement of discovery of lost cities.
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This was just a small one!
There is a whole different sense of privacy in Japan.
Something about tunnels, especially abandoned train tunnels, that flushes out the willies in me.
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On such an innocent trail, even there, the spirits lurk.
Sundays have always been the time for the droning of a lone airplane, passing overhead outside the window.
When I read The Lord of the Rings as a teenager I often walked in the woods and imagined the denizens of the books hiding behind tree trunks and boulders.
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When I lived in Naruto I would go on very long walks. One place that would bring me peace and make me feel less lonely was this quiet nature reserve about 20 minutes walk from my apartment.
I hardly ever saw anyone in this area. So few people passed through that the egrets and night herons and grey herons relaxed and settled down here to roost. I would sit for hours listening to their calls at night.
People often talk of their secret hideaways when they were kids, but seem to think they are unnecessary when we get older, but I think such places are even more important as adults. They help center us and soften the harshness of everyday life.
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A different tack, back in the city, into the heart of gods and fate.
I’m not sure how I would feel with all those strangers and tourists taking pictures of my wedding…
Dusk fell and the gate guard began industriously shooing us out.
No matter how many times I turn up at them, many shrines have a way of instilling great peace.
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I began to see spirits in every nook and cranny.
I was on a ghost walk… but the truth is that it was raining so hard and the air so humid that my lens fogged up at this point. The rest of the trip was taking pictures through a mist…
…and though I was irritated at first, I began to have fun seeing everything in a different way.
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Walking here reminded me of my walks with my grandfather in the hills east of Hannover, Germany where I was born.
This was just beyond a rope gate along the trail…though there was no one there I had goosebumps as I passed through, feeling there was someone watching and that in the area beyond the gate some dangerous creature haunted.
Photographs of flowers in the mountains can seem cliche, but as the trail got darker I welcomed the bright color.
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One of the strongest memories I have of childhood in Japan is little paths like this in the mountains, where I spent days catching insects and watching birds.
Who says plants can’t jump out at you?
As the rain intensified a feeling of foreboding crept into the walk. I felt as if a minor god was watching me.
Laughing Knees 