Shimmer Shine Sojourn

I kept finding small reasons to stop on the way to Kiyomizu-dera. There was a plant beside a wooden doorway, a neat row of pottery inside a shop, and a tiled roof above a quiet stretch of road. It was September in Kyoto, still a little hot, but comfortable enough to enjoy being outside. I had chosen Chawan-zaka for the walk uphill, and I was happy to take my time. A quiet corner at the entrance to Chawan-zaka, where wooden buildings and carefully tended plants made me slow down. Chawan-zaka and nearby Kiyomizu-zaka both lead towards Kiyomizu-dera, also known as Kiyomizu Temple, in Kyoto’s Higashiyama district . I photographed both streets during my visit. One was quiet, with fewer visitors and plenty of small details to notice. The other was busy with shops, colourful sweets and people looking around. I enjoyed how different they felt, even though they were so close to each other. Blue skies, low buildings and a quiet stretch of road on my September walk towards Kiyomizu-dera Small s...

 There are journeys that are not measured by the distance we walk, but by the degree to which our mind relaxes. When visiting the teamLab Planets digital art museum in Tokyo, the first thing I did was take off my shoes, allowing my bare feet to directly touch the cool surfaces that gradually turned warm. Shedding the soles of my shoes felt like a small ritual, separating me from the hurried life outside so I could step into an entirely new sensory world. Queuing inside, where you will wait for about 30 minutes Gentle Warm Waters and a Floating Universe of Flowers The very first sensation awakening every sense was when my bare feet sank into gentle warm water within a quiet dark space. Walking leisurely through cool water that smoothly shifted into warmth, it felt as though all the tiredness accumulated after long days of traveling washed away with the stream. Walking barefoot through the refreshingly cool water Leaving the water area, my steps led me into another wondrous dome roo...

 Stepping onto Japanese soil for the very first time, I carried the hesitation of a traveler standing before a completely unfamiliar world. Everything from the streets and signboards to the rhythm of daily life made me pause just a little. On my first day visiting the artificial island of Odaiba nestled in Tokyo Bay , I held no checklist of essential stops, nor did I craft a detailed plan. Choosing the Statue of Liberty as my main anchor, I embraced this island with the curious wonder of a guest visiting for the first time. A shopping mall on Odaiba island A quiet, late lunch spent inside the shopping mall How Odaiba Unfolded Before My Eyes It began with slipping into a shopping mall simply to rest my feet and enjoy a late lunch. The mall was still quite lively then, so once I finished eating, I stepped out onto the spacious courtyard outside. There, I was caught completely off guard by a giant robot standing tall in the center of the plaza. That towering steel machine appeared so...