Story Photographs

When I was 19 years old, during my first year of living in Tokyo on my own, I developed a habit of studying at coffee shops. Being a lonely young student in a big urban city, I found comfort in the cozy ambience of local coffee shops. The school I attended was located near the […]

It was my first day at kindergarten. That day, my younger brother was in the hospital and my mother had to leave soon after attending the welcome ceremony. I did not panic when she left. I was quite used to being away from my parents by that age. Since my sweet little brother was born

It was when I was in grade 4. One winter morning, on my way to school, I encountered a group of boys in front of me. From the yellow covers on their school bags, I knew that they were first graders. They were throwing snowballs at each other. To my eyes, the way they played

When I was 19 years old, I lived in Tokyo attending a special school designed for university entrance exam preparation. It was my first year living on my own away from my hometown. For most of that year, I made myself busy every day studying the material from morning until night. But in the summer,

Several years ago, I was on my way back to Tokyo from a trip to London, England. I had a window seat. As I settled down and read through the safety booklet (my golden ritual), a young boy and his mother came and sat next to me. The boy was about three years old. He

It was last summer. My housemate and I were committed to a short jogging ritual. Every evening, after work, we would go out for a quick run in the neighbourhood. There were many days when we only managed to jog around our block. But a few times, we felt adventurous and tried out a longer

I have a friend who has a sister six years older than her. I’m always surprised by this age gap because from the way she talks about her sister, it feels as if they were twins. My friend says that they grew up together being the best playmates. I always love to hear whatever my

One autumn, I was visiting Italy on a solo trip and took a train from Milano to Pisa. It was my first time to take a long distance train in the country. For the first time in my life, I saw a train with compartments like the one in the movie of Harry Potter series

It was years ago when I was still a busy college student in Tokyo. One hot and humid evening of summer, I was walking back home from the nearest train station. It was already dark. Exhausted from the long day, I was focusing all my energy on moving my legs as fast as I could

In the region of Japan where I grew up, October is the season of fragrant olives. Wherever you walk, you’ll encounter their subtle sweet fragrance and their pale orange blossoms. When I was about nine or ten, there was a period when I walked to school just by myself. As the autumn arrived, I felt