After years without travel, I finally returned to Japan in 2024 with a camera in hand and the intention to turn the trip into a photobook. But the burden of planning and the pressure to "make something" quickly turned the excitement into anxiety. This blog captures how I let go of that pressure, embraced chance encounters, and reconnected with the joy of photographing ordinary moments—from the streets of Osaka to the beaches of Wakayama.

I didn’t plan on making a photobook when I flew to Tokyo in the middle of a blazing Japanese summer. I just wandered—camera in hand—through quiet neighborhoods, loud train stations, and temples tucked between skyscrapers. Years later, during the stillness of the pandemic, I looked back and realized those fragments were worth preserving. This is Tokyo 2018—a personal, unplanned glimpse into a city that continues to inspire me.