Japan In A Box
A year ago today, I was one week into my first solo trip to Japan.
By this time, I was in Nara Park, feeding the deer and visiting the stunning Todai-ji.
I'd planned to blog about my adventures while travelling, but my laptop encountered a weird critical problem the night before I left. Rather than fight with it and carry around dead weight, I left it behind. I'd journal every day and turn that into some fun blog posts upon my return.
I did post some, but it kinda fizzled out as I got busier back at home and it just didn't feel as relevant anymore - despite the fact that I think about this trip constantly.
Instead of the giant (boring) retrospective post that I'd set out to do, I thought it would be nice to revisit what I took home as memorabilia.
Naturally, I bought plenty of omiyage for my family and friends, and even a few modest trinkets for myself (mostly anime figures for my desk), but right now I'm just poring over things like maps, train tickets, pamphlets, etc. Stuff I kept just for me.
Some of my favourite items:
- Map of Japan: shortly before the trip, my wife got this for me. I'd never thought to get one, but of course it was really helpful to get a better sense of direction and distance
- ICOCA: my trusty transit card in a super cool NERV personnel sleeve
- Tickets and pamphlets from various temples and attractions
- A flyer I got from a couple of young musicians in Osaka
Probably the coolest thing I brought back were the embarrassing amount of photos I took (some of which are on my Pixelfed), but these little things bring me some joy.
懐かしい ね。
