Announcement: I'm Writing a Book!
After a decade of making piles of notes and rough drafts, I’m putting it all together and writing a travel book aimed at helping people get the most out of their visit to Japan.
This is not going to be a typical travel book. I am not an influencer and I’m not going to feed you bad lists of must-see places. Instead, this project is driven by my own philosophy on travel, combined with practical strategies and useful information to make any trip as enriching as possible.
I need your help to see it through, though. For as little as USD $5, you can pre-order the book at a discount and get access to the final product, plus the audiobook version and supplemental materials. Check out the project page at davidwroteabook.com
My aim is to get it finished by the end of Q1 2025, but the more support I can get, the more time I can afford to put into it, leading to an earlier release date.
Posts
Dispatch № 107: Same Place, Different Day
Even when the weather is bad, I go out to wander and make pictures for thirty or forty minutes. Every working day, this is my lunchtime habit, a recursive practice that is exercise for both my body and my mind.
Dispatch № 106: Snow Bridge
Instead, it belongs to a rail-thin teenager who isn’t sure what he wants to do in life…
The State of the Blog, January 2022
Today I’d like to take a break from the regular schedule of the last year and look at the current state of my Somewhere in Japan project and talk a bit about where it’s headed in 2022.
Dispatch № 105: A Perfect Day for Pounding Rice
The air was cold and crisp, filled with the sounds of easy conversation and the rhythmic, sticky thuds of rice being pounded into mochi.
Dispatch № 104: Possibility
With less than a week left in the year, and with less than a week left for me in my thirties, I am feeling an uncharacteristic sense of hope and optimism.
Dispatch № 103: Nothing for the Sake of Something
To my left runs a long row of houses. To my right is a chain-link fence, woven and fringed with weeds. Beyond it, a profusion of railroad tracks.
Dispatch № 102: You’re Doing Me a Favor
Already, I’ve given away a half dozen old film cameras, a flash, a tripod head, two avocado trees, a couple old messenger bags, the fountain pen and ink, and a small variety of other things.
Dispatch № 100: Going Deep
Mounds of burnable garbage, bundles of cardboard, stacks of old clothes bound with twine, old furniture broken down into pieces, sandwich bags full of old batteries—just about anything you can imagine, really, and the volume increases strikingly as December’s days run out and the new year approaches.
Dispatch № 99: Decompression
A walk and a comedy podcast on the quiet back streets between the school and the station.
Dispatch № 98: Ode to the Kotatsu
A poem about my favorite piece of furniture
Dispatch № 97: So Much Shouting
Meanwhile, in the library on the eighth floor of the mall, a place that is usually a quiet and happy refuge, I could still hear him bellowing down below.