Photos: Tokyo as a tourist

January 2009: Tokyo as a tourist.

Am I obsessed with memory, or just eager to remember?

In January of 2009, under the pretense of vague administrative needs, I dropped by Tokyo, as a tourist this time: staying in a Ryokan, not cooking a single meal, and a week of re-discovering some of my favorite neighbourhoods under a different perspective.

I returned with the desire to remember a few random things: the smell and touch of tatami mats, the sound of crows, now disappearing from the city and finding refuge in temples and cemetaries; the taste of tea and soba, the joy of lovemaking on a simple futon on the floor, the noise of the clunky bikes used for morning newspaper delivery, the Tokyo fashion and the surprises in deserted small streets. Shimokita before its mutation. Tokyu Hands. L'Idiot Savant and La Jetée. And almost a decade of friendships.

(Published Apr. 9th, 2009)