14 May 2003

Japan travelogue

While our 10-day holiday in Japan ended over 2 weeks ago, I’ve been pleasantly reliving it since then putting together a travelogue of sorts from the over 1000 photos we took. It’s a bit too easy to take photos — the digital camera holds about 350, and when it fills up, you use an ATM-like machine to put them all onto CD, clear them off the camera, and start again.

I should really start trying to explain why we wanted to go to Japan, but that’s difficult to put into words. I’ve been something of a Japanophile for over 10 years, a result of manga, film, books, music, and I even feel a kinship with some of the social norms that differ from the West’s. That said, despite how friendly and helpful the people were, I thought that getting deeper than the superficial tourism level would take years of living there.

Probably the greatest direct influence was the films of Studio Ghibli and the recent opening of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

The travelogue’s here (table of contents):

Besides the diary-style day-by-day pages (that may only interest relatives) there are also some subject-specific pages:

• Imagery: Japanese posters, signage, TV, and other designs
• Design that’s different or clever
• Food

I wish I could summarise an incomparable 10 days better than this, but perhaps the travelogue does it adequately.

Thanks also for everyone who offered us advice while we were planning the trip. You know who you are!