Annoyance

Leave me alone.

Road

From one place to another.
From someone to another.
Road take you everywhere and nowhere.

Children

There was a time your life was simple.
There was a time you had nothing to fear or worry about.
There was a time you were free.

Need Beer?

Harajyuku Girls

It has been months since I have been to Harajyuku last time. It used to be one of my favourite place in Tokyo, but since the symbol of the place, the beautiful Dojunkai apartment houses, has been destroyed, I was away from the town.


Harajyuku is famous for the original fashion style people gathered there have. Somehow many foreigners, especially young girls, are very interested in this place and often ask me what it is like. So, here it is.


I remember when I went there years ago, there were a lot of people who have "unique" fashion styles, only a few people seemed "normal". (Excuse me but I have never understood their styles...) However, it has been changed since then. There are still some interesting people, but not as many as there used to be. I have heard some foreigners saying " I was expecting here to have more crazy people". Well, sorry, this is Harajyuku after being too famous for tourists. Time changed, fashion changed.


Walking in a huge crowd of Japanese, I felt strange. It was the life I got used to and I have never wondered about it, but I felt different. I felt like I am still traveling somewhere unknown.


Time changed, fashion changed, view changed, and people changed. Everything is changing without notice.

Follow

Where are you going?
Where am I going?

Stranger

Are you?
Am I?

Lost in Translation

Memories

Things I don't want to forget.
Things I cannot forget.
Things I remember every moment.

Back to Home

Finally settled down from traveling around eastern Canada and Big Apple, New York. The trip was extremely busy and extraordinarily fantastic. I wish I could stay each cities longer to have a better look.

The unforgettable trip started from the world heritage, Quebec City, Canada, where I was expecting to be the best city in this trip and came out to be disappointing at some points. It was completely a city for tourists. Gift shops, groups of school kids, huge tour busses everywhere. The pity of being chosen as a world heritage is it becomes too famous and changes its original environment and lives of local people. Chosen to be protected, but destroy what it was supposed to protect. What an irony is that. However, it was a beautiful city and worth taking time to walk around.

The second stop was Montreal where I found it the most lovable city. Totally French. Didn't understand anything people talk and signs on the street. Only words I understand were "Merci" and "Bon appetit" which didn't help me to have conversations with local people. I was just amazed by the visual beauty of the city. Fashionable people walking by, incredible graffiti in every corner, old, colourful, unique houses along streets, many people having some drinks at terrace after cool rain and enjoying a short afternoon with warm sunshine. Everything was inspiring. One of the cities where I would love to live.

The next stop, Toronto, was nothing special or impressive. I visited some Museums and I don't remember rest of the stay except the Canadian beer I had was nice.

The second world heritage I visited, Niagara Falls were worth seeing, but the surrounding was disappointing. The power of Falls were remarkablly huge. The amount of water, the sound it makes, rain-like amount of splashing...just huge. The thing bothers me was the Las Vegas-like town next to the falls which was totally unneccessary and depreciate the greatness of the holly falls.

After 9 hours of being on the train from Niagara, I arrived at the last city of this trip, New York City. It was exactly what I expected; fantastic. A week was definitely not enough to see everything. Even though I saw only some parts including tourist places of the city, I enjoyed the stay and loved it very, very much. Especially the place I slept for a week, a cheap hostel in Chelsea, made the stay more interesting. Many people, cultures, and arts from all over the world got together in New York. You hear different languages more often than English on the streets, subways, shops and restaurants. Feel like being on a miniture globe. One of the attractions I was very looking forward was visiting galleries, but, silly me, I forgot about they usually close on Sundays and Mondays, I failed to manage visiting some valuable ones. Still a few galleries I could see were great.

And now, I am back to my home, Japan. Completely different from every city I visited. Although I feel comfortable returning the life I got used to, at the same time, cannot help feeling awkward being here after months of staying another environment. The same house, the same people, the same climate I have known for years and years, but I think I am not the same as before. Back to home physically, but not spiritually.