Japan

Japan was never supposed to be a carefully planned trip. A week before departure, we decided to go.

It was our first time in the country and our first trip together. Over nine days, we moved between Tokyo, old post towns, the Japanese Alps and Mount Fuji — following an itinerary that came together almost as quickly as the trip itself.

After our first night in Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen to Nagoya, spent a few hours exploring the city, and continued toward Nakatsugawa.

The following morning, we began walking from Magome along the old Nakasendo route. The trail passed through forests and preserved post towns, including Tsumago, before we continued farther to catch the train toward Matsumoto.

It was along this stretch that we came across the old villages — and unexpectedly, a Japanese macaque watching us from the forest.

The evening before had been slightly less picturesque: heavy rain turned the thirty-minute walk back to our accommodation in Nakatsugawa into a thoroughly soaked introduction to rural Japan.

We spent two nights in Matsumoto and used one of the days to visit Kamikochi.

There was no major expedition planned — just a long walk beside the river under remarkably clear skies. Surrounded by the mountains, it quickly became one of those places that felt impossible to properly explore in a single day.

More than anything, Kamikochi left me wanting to return with more time, hiking gear, and a plan to go much farther into the mountains.

Fujiyoshida was one of the few parts of the trip planned around a specific photograph.

We had chosen our accommodation nearby so we could reach the Pagoda before sunrise. The alarm went off at 4 a.m., followed by the climb up to reach the viewpoint before the crowds.

The plan was simple: catch the first light on Mount Fuji.

The weather had other ideas.

Low clouds hanging over the area refused to clear, even with a steady breeze. For a while, it looked as though the mountain might remain hidden completely. Eventually, the cloud began to break just enough for Fuji to appear.

It wasn’t the perfectly clear morning I had imagined, but sometimes the uncertainty behind a photograph becomes part of the reason you remember it.

From Fujiyoshida, we returned to Tokyo for the final two nights of the trip.

What surprised us most about the city was not its size, but its calm. Even on our first morning, Tokyo felt remarkably clean, orderly and almost quiet — something neither of us expected from a city of that scale.

I spent those last days photographing the contrast that interested me most: the architecture and controlled geometry around Ginza and the Imperial Palace, then the density, movement and light of Shinjuku.

Tokyo could feel completely still on one street and overwhelmingly busy on the next.

One of our last experiences in Tokyo was a twelve-course omakase at a fish market near Ginza.

The sake pairing turned out to be considerably more generous than expected...

Nine days was barely enough to begin understanding Japan.

What stayed with us most was not a particular landmark, but the everyday details: the extraordinary cleanliness, the politeness and kindness of the people, the quiet of Tokyo, and the sense of care that seemed to exist almost everywhere we went.

For a trip chosen only a week before departure, Japan left us with a surprisingly simple conclusion:

We need to go back.