COLLECTION / 02SUMMER 2025JAPAN NOTEBOOK / NINE DAYS

Summer in Kansai and a Seaside City

関西の夏、そして海辺の街

An empty residential street near Nanzen-ji beneath a web of utility lines — 001
Before the streets fill
KYOTO / 08:50

ABOUT THIS NOTEBOOK

The route was measured less in distance than in changes of pace: a garden before the crowds, a platform at noon, a city held between mountain and sea.

A nine-day photographic notebook moving from eastern Kyoto, Lake Biwa, Osaka, Kifune, Kurama, and Nara to Hakodate's streetcars, steep harbor roads, open coast, and the first train south.

DAY 0127 JUNKYOTO / NANZEN-JI / AWATAGUCHI

The city before it fills

At eight in the morning, the streets east of Kyoto had not yet become a route. Around Nanzen-ji and Awataguchi, summer appeared as a density of green—gardens tended by hand, corridors opening toward leaves, gravel held beside moss, and rooms built to frame the view. A heron stood still enough to become part of the design. At Kyoto Station, the sequence changed material: local trains, illuminated carriage windows, steel roofwork, and finally the Shinkansen at night.

A gardener in a straw hat tending a pond through dense summer foliage — 002
The garden is already at work
NANZEN-JI DISTRICT / CARE

A moss-green temple garden with a stone lantern, rocks, and tiled wall beneath maple trees — 003
Green settles into every surface
NANZEN-JI DISTRICT / GARDEN

A wooden temple corridor opening onto vivid green maple leaves — 004
The corridor keeps the garden moving
NANZEN-JI DISTRICT / VERANDA

A dense summer garden of clipped shrubs, moss, and pond beneath layered trees — 005
A garden composed in layers
NANZEN-JI DISTRICT / SUMMER

A small stone torii and shrine approached by a narrow path below green hills — 006
A shrine at the edge of the route
EASTERN KYOTO / ROADSIDE SHRINE

Purple hydrangeas and koi reflected along the edge of a garden pond — 007
June gathers at the waterline
NANZEN-JI DISTRICT / HYDRANGEA

A visitor seated at the edge of a veranda facing a dense green garden — 008
A seat facing nothing but green
AWATAGUCHI / GARDEN

A dark wooden temple hall framed by green shrubs and a red-leafed maple — 009
One red branch interrupts the green
AWATAGUCHI / TEMPLE HALL

A dark tatami room framing a luminous garden through open wooden screens — 010
Summer held by the frame
AWATAGUCHI / INTERIOR

A raked gravel garden with rocks, moss, and a stone lantern beneath dense trees — 011
Stone, gravel, and the weight of green
EASTERN KYOTO / DRY GARDEN

A long covered wooden walkway receding between temple buildings and a garden — 012
The route continues under timber
EASTERN KYOTO / CORRIDOR

A grey heron standing beside a lantern in a vivid green garden — 013
A heron inside the garden
KYOTO / STILLNESS

Two commuter trains waiting beneath the industrial roof of Kyoto Station — 014
The garden gives way to the junction
KYOTO STATION / LOCAL LINES

A passenger train streaking past with illuminated windows and seated riders — 015
A carriage briefly becomes a strip of rooms
KYOTO STATION / IN MOTION

Two Shinkansen trains crossing through the layered lights of Kyoto Station — 016
Night arrives by rail
KYOTO STATION / SHINKANSEN

DAY 0228 JUNSAKAMOTO / KATATA / LAKE BIWA

The lake enters the room

Sakamoto held the garden twice: once beyond the veranda, and once in the dark surface of Former Chikurin-in's table. Beyond it, torii and roadside lanterns led downhill toward the Lake Biwa Line. A local train, baseball players waiting at Katata, a narrow town street, and Ukimido carried the day toward open water. The Shinkansen erased the distance back to Kyoto; headlights continued after dark.

A sunlit garden seen across a low bamboo rail from a shaded veranda — 017
The room opens before the reflection
FORMER CHIKURIN-IN / VERANDA

A red parasol and green garden reflected across a black lacquered table — 018
The garden enters the room
FORMER CHIKURIN-IN / SAKAMOTO

Sculpted pines and rounded shrubs arranged across a bright moss garden — 019
The garden after the mirror
FORMER CHIKURIN-IN / GARDEN

The geometric bamboo ribs and red paper underside of a Japanese parasol — 020
The red inside the reflection
FORMER CHIKURIN-IN / PARASOL

A tall wooden torii standing over a quiet forest road in Sakamoto — 021
The road leaves through a gate
SAKAMOTO / SHRINE ROAD

A line of red shrine lanterns following a shaded road beneath tall trees — 022
Lanterns mark the roadside
SAKAMOTO / APPROACH

A steep town street descending toward Lake Biwa beneath utility wires — 023
Downhill, toward the lake
SAKAMOTO / LAKE BIWA

A silver JR commuter train standing beside a sunlit station platform — 024
A local train pauses in the sun
LAKE BIWA LINE / PLATFORM

Young baseball players waiting on the opposite platform at Katata Station — 025
Between practice and the train
KATATA STATION / NOON

A narrow lakeside town street with bicycles, shopfronts, and people in the afternoon sun — 026
The town waits between trains
KATATA / STREET

Ukimido hall standing at the end of a narrow bridge over Lake Biwa — 027
The hall over the water
UKIMIDO / LAKE BIWA

A Shinkansen moving at speed across a layered Kyoto cityscape — 028
Kyoto moves behind it
TOKAIDO / SHINKANSEN

A broad Kyoto road glowing with headlights beneath the night sky — 029
The road continues after dark
KYOTO / NIGHT ROAD

DAY 0329 JUNOMI-HACHIMAN / SHIN-OSAKA / OSAKA

Southbound, then neon

Omi-Hachiman began as a pause across the tracks, followed by the local train and the long white edge of platform eleven. The N700S announced itself in details—emblem, nose, crew—before delivering us into Osaka's thirty-one-degree afternoon. Shinsekai, the covered arcade, and Dotonbori compressed signs and bodies into a continuous current. A cook worked in the small bright theater of a shopfront; Shin-Osaka held the last platform of the night.

Travelers waiting beneath the Omi-Hachiman station sign on a bright platform — 030
A station pause in Omi-Hachiman
OMI-HACHIMAN / PLATFORM

A silver JR commuter train arriving beside a bright rural platform — 031
The local brings us to the transfer
OMI-HACHIMAN / LOCAL LINE

A white Shinkansen stretching along platform eleven beneath a steel station roof — 032
Platform eleven, before departure
KYOTO / SHINKANSEN

The gold N700S Supreme emblem painted along the side of a Shinkansen carriage — 033
The newest train names itself
N700S / DETAIL

The nose of an N700S Shinkansen patterned by sunlight at a station platform — 034
The nose catches the roof light
N700S / PLATFORM

Shinkansen crew coordinating beside an open first-car door as passengers board — 035
Departure is a practiced exchange
SHINKANSEN / CREW

Tsutenkaku rising above the dense signs and shopfronts of Shinsekai — 036
Thirty-one degrees beneath Tsutenkaku
SHINSEKAI / OSAKA

A dense crowd filling a brightly signed covered shopping arcade in Osaka — 037
The crowd continues under cover
OSAKA / SHOPPING ARCADE

A crowd photographing the illuminated Glico sign in Dotonbori at night — 038
Everyone photographs the light
DOTONBORI / NIGHT

A cook preparing takoyaki behind a bright Osaka shopfront — 039
Dinner is made in public
DOTONBORI / TAKOYAKI

A train waiting behind platform barriers beneath the Shin-Osaka station sign at night — 040
The last platform of the night
SHIN-OSAKA / PLATFORM

DAY 0430 JUNKIFUNE / NORTHERN KYOTO

A fortune appears in water

By late afternoon, Kifune's lanterns were already lit beneath the trees. A fortune revealed itself in water, but the shrine stayed with me as a sequence of thresholds: prayer at the first steps, wishes tied beneath the branches, torii opening onto further torii, and lanterns suspended in the blue hour. I appear once in the convex mirror; then the route returns to water—ladles, a spring, the quiet inner shrine, and the final staircase holding what light remained.

Two visitors praying at a small Kifune shrine framed by red lanterns — 041
The mountain keeps its own light
KIFUNE SHRINE / EVENING

Pale green paper fortunes tied beneath the trees at Kifune Shrine — 042
Fortunes tied beneath the trees
KIFUNE / OMIKUJI

A vermilion torii framing stone steps and glowing lanterns in the forest at Kifune Shrine — 043
The gate begins the ascent
KIFUNE / TORII

Rows of red and white paper lanterns suspended above a dark summer terrace — 044
Lanterns hold the blue hour
KIFUNE / LANTERN CANOPY

A vermilion torii and paired lanterns standing at the end of a gravel path in dense forest — 045
Another threshold in the trees
KIFUNE / INNER PATH

The photographer reflected in a circular roadside mirror surrounded by foliage — 046
The photographer enters once
KIFUNE / SELF-PORTRAIT

A bright vermilion torii framing wet stone steps rising into dense green foliage — 047
The path narrows to a gate
KIFUNE / ASCENT

Wooden purification ladles resting on bamboo beside water flowing from a bamboo spout — 048
Water waits at the threshold
KIFUNE / PURIFICATION BASIN

Sacred spring water pouring into a stone basin beneath paper streamers — 049
Cold water from the mountain
KIFUNE / SACRED SPRING

The softly illuminated inner shrine seen through a large woven grass ring at dusk — 050
The shrine glows through the circle
KIFUNE / INNER SHRINE

A stone stairway rising between rows of glowing red lanterns at Kifune Shrine — 051
The stairs hold the last light
KIFUNE / LANTERNS

DAY 0501 JULKURAMA / NARA / KYOTO

The long way back

Kurama was the end of one line and the beginning of several more. Platform mirrors repeated the Eizan train; the driver carried it out of the mountain and remained visible in one last reflection. Underground connections and a procession of orange Kintetsu trains turned the transfer itself into a subject. Nara began with an ordinary street, then deer crossed traffic and settled across the grass. Back at Kyoto Station, the atrium became an interior city—platforms in strips, departure boards, concourses, and one traveler crossing the light alone before the hall finally thinned.

The Kurama Station sign beside platform mirrors and an Eizan train — 052
The end of the Eizan Line
KURAMA STATION / MORNING

An Eizan train reflected in a convex platform mirror amid green trees — 053
The train returns inside the mirror
KURAMA STATION / REFLECTION

An Eizan train driver seen from behind as the railway leaves the mountain — 054
Carried out of the mountain
EIZAN LINE / DRIVER

A convex train mirror holding the driver's reflection above blurred houses — 055
The driver remains in the corner of the frame
EIZAN LINE / IN MOTION

A dark commuter train waiting at an underground platform as passengers board — 056
The next connection arrives underground
KYOTO / TRANSFER

Pedestrians moving along a narrow commercial street beneath utility wires — 057
Nara begins as an ordinary street
NARA / WALKING

An orange Kintetsu limited express waiting beneath the number one platform sign — 058
Orange waits beneath platform one
KINTETSU / TERMINAL

An orange Kintetsu train seen head-on between platform fences — 059
The line turns toward Nara
KINTETSU / PLATFORM

An orange Kintetsu limited express for Nara beside three railway workers — 060
The next line reads Nara
KINTETSU / LIMITED EXPRESS

A red Kintetsu train standing beneath the Kyoto Station platform sign — 061
Kyoto written above the carriage
KINTETSU KYOTO / PLATFORM

A Kintetsu train curving into platform four beside waiting passengers — 062
A train bends into platform four
KINTETSU / ARRIVAL

Railway staff walking across a platform beside an orange limited express — 063
Between one departure and the next
KINTETSU / PLATFORM STAFF

An orange Kintetsu limited express standing beneath the station lights — 064
The limited express at rest
KINTETSU / LIMITED EXPRESS

A deer crossing a Nara road in front of a car and a group of onlookers — 065
Traffic waits for another timetable
NARA / DEER

Several deer resting on bright grass beneath widely spaced trees in Nara Park — 066
The road opens into a lawn
NARA PARK / REST

A broad field filled with grazing and resting deer in Nara Park — 067
The field keeps its own crowd
NARA PARK / HERD

Three spotted deer resting close together on green grass — 068
Three deer, briefly still
NARA PARK / PORTRAIT

The immense steel-and-glass atrium of Kyoto Station seen from an upper level — 069
Kyoto Station becomes an interior city
KYOTO STATION / ATRIUM

A Shinkansen platform seen at night through narrow bands of station structure — 070
Kyoto Station, seen in strips
KYOTO STATION / NIGHT

Kyoto's streets and illuminated buildings seen at night from the station — 071
The city below the station
KYOTO STATION / NIGHT VIEW

A lone traveler crossing a sharply lit station floor in black and white — 072
One traveler through the light
KYOTO STATION / 21:00

Travelers moving through a dim Kyoto Station concourse beneath departure signs — 073
The concourse between departures
KYOTO STATION / CONCOURSE

Passengers gathered beneath dense departure boards and ticket information screens — 074
Every route gathers above the gates
KYOTO STATION / DEPARTURES

Travelers standing beneath the illuminated Kyoto Station sign at night — 075
Kyoto names the ending
KYOTO STATION / ENTRANCE

A dark Kyoto Station hall with ticket counters and scattered late-night travelers — 076
The hall after the crowd thins
KYOTO STATION / LATE

CHAPTER 02 / THE SEASIDE CITY

North, into blue

第二章 — 海辺の街

After Kansai's saturated green, the route turned north. Hakodate arrived in blue: a city held between mountain, harbor, overhead wire, and the next train out.

DAY 0602 JULGORYOKAKU / HAKODATE / MT HAKODATE

A city between two heights

From Goryokaku Tower, Hakodate gathered around the mountain at its far end. By evening we were following the city's wires toward it—streetcar, ropeway, then the dark gondola above the roofs. At the summit, the two bays became light. One camera entered the view, and the observation-deck crowd made its own moving foreground.

Hakodate seen from Goryokaku Tower, with Mount Hakodate and the harbor beneath a pale sky — 077
The mountain waits at the far end of the city
GORYOKAKU TOWER / ARRIVAL

A Hakodate streetcar moving beneath overhead wires toward Mount Hakodate at blue hour — 078
Rails continue into the street
HAKODATE TRAM / BLUE HOUR

A web of tram and utility wires crossing a grey sky in black and white — 079
The route remains overhead
HAKODATE / WIRES

A Mount Hakodate Ropeway gondola suspended above a quiet road at dusk — 080
Three minutes above the street
MT HAKODATE / ROPEWAY

Passengers silhouetted inside the Mount Hakodate Ropeway against the blue city below — 081
The city appears between the cables
ROPEWAY / GONDOLA

Hakodate's illuminated city and twin bays seen at night from Mount Hakodate — 082
Night gathers between two bodies of water
MT HAKODATE / NIGHT

A photographer silhouetted against Hakodate's night lights from Mount Hakodate — 083
One city, inside another camera
MT HAKODATE / OBSERVATION

A uniformed attendant directing a dense crowd on the Mount Hakodate observation deck — 084
The view has its own choreography
MT HAKODATE / CROWD

DAY 0703 JULHAKODATE BAY / MOTOMACHI / CAPE TACHIMACHI

Every street reaches the water

The next day stayed close to the edge: red brick beside the bay, one Motomachi street descending through wires and pedestrians, then Hachimanzaka dropping cleanly toward the Mashu-maru. Beyond the last houses came Cape Tachimachi. There the city stopped; seabirds occupied the rocks and the Tsugaru Strait took the rest of the frame.

A long red-brick warehouse wall and evergreen tree opening toward Hakodate Bay — 085
Brick meets the water
KANEMORI / BAY

A steep Motomachi street descending through wires, pedestrians, and parked cars toward Hakodate Bay — 086
The city begins its descent
MOTOMACHI / SLOPE

Hachimanzaka slope descending between trees toward Hakodate Bay and the Mashu-maru memorial ship — 087
The harbor waits at the bottom
HACHIMANZAKA / MASHU-MARU

Seabirds gathered across jagged rocks in the Tsugaru Strait below Cape Tachimachi — 088
The city gives way to salt and stone
CAPE TACHIMACHI / TSUGARU STRAIT

DAY 0804 JULHAKODATE / ONUMA-KOEN

Rain north of the city

The Limited Express Hokuto carried us out of Hakodate toward Onuma. Rain softened the park and made the summer smaller: not a panorama now, but water-lily leaves, pale flowers, and drops held on the surface.

A traveler walking beside a Limited Express Hokuto train at Hakodate Station — 089
North of the city, by rail
HAKODATE STATION / HOKUTO

White and pale-pink water lilies scattered across rain-darkened leaves at Onuma Quasi-National Park — 090
Summer holds still in the rain
ONUMA / WATER LILIES

DAY 0905 JULHAKODATE / SHIN-HAKODATE-HOKUTO

The first train home

At 5:36, a single local car curved into the wet station. It carried us to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto; from there the Shinkansen turned south toward Tokyo, and the journey began to close.

An early local train curving through rainy Hakodate Station at 5:36 in the morning — 091
The first train begins the way home
HAKODATE STATION / 05:36

AFTER NINE DAYS / SOUTHBOUND

The notebook closes in rain.

The local train reached Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto before the day had properly begun. From there, the long line back to Tokyo folded the two chapters into one route home.