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Wandering Nagoya in the rain last week.

Hello,

Our daughter started preschool on a daily basis in April right after we got back from the UK. That means I’ll be spending two mornings a week wandering around central Nagoya.

Hello,

In the previous newsletter I wrote about taking the first train into Nagoya and walking home, snapping photographs along the way. Those walks have inspired me to get moving again.

So last week I walked along the Nakasendo from Mitake to Kani (Utozaka to Nihonrain-Imawatari to be precise) and you can read about it here. Parts of it were nice, some were not.

I was also inspired by The Street Photography Manual by David Gibson, as well as the work of Shin Noguchi and Naoki Ishikawa, used Japanese photography books on walking the Kisoji and Just Walking by Stefan Speidel to begin looking back at my own photos over the years and identify themes that I’ve gravitated towards.

Hello,

A few more months pass and life goes on. England have just beaten Senegal, Japan are taking the tournament by storm to the surprise of many, (but have just been knocked out by Croatia a few hours before I sent this) and the temperature has finally dropped so it’s cold outside. Cold while watching the World Cup? Who’d have thought…

Local wildlife has been a subject of curiosity recently for the simple pleasure of going out looking for animals. If you look closely, even in the city, they are everywhere. Highly recommended. I’ve been taking my daughter along but whenever I ask her to be quiet she uses it as a signal to scream at the top of her voice and scare away anything within a 10-kilometres radius. Goodbye woodpeckers, goodbye warbles… goodbye…well everything.

Jizo statues at the summit of Mt. Hououzan in the Southern Alps.

Fishermen on the Tsukechi River, Gifu.

Hello,

Hiking in the Suzuka Ranges recently.

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Hello, and Happy 2022.

Kiso-ji Photo Book

It’s been two months or so since I finished walking the Kiso-ji and I’m starting to get the urge to return because I’ve been going through photos and making edits for a personal book. Printing out photos to view as a physical format instead of staring at pixels on a screen makes it easier to determine what works and what doesn’t, and where the gaps in the ‘story’ are. There are so many gaps in what I currently have but I’m fine with that, it’s the filling of those gaps that has kindled the urge to start walking it again and much sooner than originally planned.

The start of the northern end of the Kiso-ji in Nagano prefecture.

Hello, this will be the last newsletter of 2021. Let's dive in.

Photo above - Taken while walking the Nakasendō in Nagano.

At the summit of Mt. Hijiri in the Minami Alps.

One of the destinations on our upcoming mini road trip. That bench is one of my favourite places in Japan.

On the way back down the mountain after hiking through the night for a Mt. Fuji sunrise.

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My daughter exploring the forest path (supervised of course) while camping in Iida, Nagano.

This month we went on two camping trips, one in the mountains of Nagano and one along the coast of Mie.

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Spring in the neighbourhood.

Hello. This is Restless, my monthly newsletter. Hopefully keeping things to the point, relevant to Japan and easy to read. Sent from the Shinano Express on my way to walk another section of the Nakasendō/Kiso-ji.

Contents:

We had snow. It lasted about four hours.

A walk in the neighbourhood. Trips further afield have been limited due to the latest state of emergency.

Torii gate, Mie Prefecture.