MIKO MIKO WAS IN JAPAN

People always say I look Japanese but I'm not even asian. In the fall 2014, I decided to travel to Japan and see for myself. There, I saw so much beauty that I might one day decide to become a real Japanese. As for now, I'm in Belgium, with only my memories left as reminder.

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In the continuum of the road diary I was keeping while travelling across Japan between October 20 and November 20, I’ll be posting one post-revealed scanned mid-format photograph, once a day, from now on, until I run out of images and probably will have to go back to Japan to take new ones.

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And there we sat, on the same rooftop, one month later, freezing our hands with cold birū cans. Tomorrow I'm leaving Japan, its incredibly kind people, its beautiful landscapes, its thousands temples and its amazingly delicious food...a little bit tired from the backpacking but full of great memories, kawaii gifts, exposed film rolls and awesome new friends. Oyasumi Japan, and arigato gozaimasu!

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10:00am. Busy Shibuya - Bright day light. 8:00pm. Super busy Shibuya - Crazy neon and LED light. 5:00am. Empty Shibuya - Pale morning light.

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Tōkyō, Ginza.

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Up: 7 hours walk in the mountain. Down: 5 minutes rope-way trip.

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It's almost the end of our adventure and the magistral Mount Fuji is our last stop before a few last days of craziness in Tokyo.

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The fast walker.

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Hiroshima.

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We reached our limit, the most southern point of our adventure across Japan. In Ibusuki we buried our tired bodies under heavy black warm sand and rested for a little while.

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From where we stood on the bay, Sakurajima seemed pretty quiet today. But the heavy black ash dust covering the entire city of Kagoshima reminded us that a gigantic active volcano was breathing above our heads.

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Here in Isahaya, Junko lives with her mother in her childhood house. Junko speaks very good English and giggles all the time. She picked us up at the train station because at night, the country side has no landmarks, like she said. Then she kindly microwaved the konbini food we had bought before leaving Nagasaki and it's heavy historical background.

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From Higashiyama to Arashiyama we crossed bridges, incensed temples and rocky paths on a long grey day and a full dark night. It's morning now, Sayonara Kyōtō.

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We left Kanazawa and Eva's lovely friends and took the road again. Konichiwa beautiful Kyōtō!

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This morning I found my way to the sea. Where the road suddenly stops in Uchinada, I stayed long hours on the beach. Collecting small objects and shells rejected by the quiet waves. Losing track of time, trying to lose track of pretty much everything but the wind.

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For my beloved grand-mother, in French, like she asked - Ici, dans la préfecture d'Ishikawa, en face de la mer du Japon, l'automne est arrivé. Les feuilles jaunissent et les jours raccourcissent. Ici, tout est beau, fragile et lent. Dans quelques jours nous partirons en train vers le sud pour y voir d'autres paysages.