Night Moves

Today’s Japanese work is: Shiki

式

It’s 10:02 PM and I’m sitting here in my tiny apartment in Beijing. I just realized I didn’t make a post today. I love the view from my apartment at night. The night is dark and the scene is just as you might imagine Beijing would look from an apartment window.

I’m a city man. I love the city…I used to tell my parents when I was a kid I was going to live in the city. I’ve lived in a few…Seoul, Incheon, Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, LA, Riyadh and now Beijing. Once you’ve done the city it’s hard to go back to living in smaller cities. I don’t know exactly why that is. Jonathan Frazen wrote a great essay on why he loved the city. He describes the feeling of being lost in the crowd. I think he’s on to something there. There’s always room for exploring, you’ll never get to the end as hard as you might try. My favorite city is Tokyo but I have a special place in my heart for Kyoto as well. I could very easily live out the rest of my days in Kyoto. I think it’s my ideal life. Spending my days taking relaxing walks and taking photos of the streets and people. Well..I guess I’m dreaming a little but hey nothing wrong with a little dreaming.

Kyoto is too perfect! I only spent a few days there but I loved my time there. Getting lost on the city streets. I went to the Manga Museum and a rock garden as well as a palace. These are places I had only experienced though books and the internet. I haven’t been to 137 different countries or anything. But I can say without a doubt that Kyoto is my favorite place.

I read a few things about Kyoto station online…however when I experienced it first hand I was overwhelmed. Its a building beyond anything I’ve ever seen. You don’t see Kyoto station, you experience it. It’s a beautiful futuristic monster that you’ll fall in love with immediately. I consider it the future of architecture.