My 1992 Japan Travelogue is now on the web. Seriously.
Photograph of two of my pen friend's "associates," pen friend Terue, me, and a few idle strangers, Kyoto, 1992. I cannot believe that my hair was ever that long, or that I wore little wire-rimmed glasses that were that round. Golly. I was, what, 24? I wouldn't believe it if I didn't get it out of my own camera.I don't know if I have yet mentioned here that Steven has won a scholarship for independent study in his field. Since he works as a gardener in a famous Japanese-style garden, he intends to use the funds to travel to Japan for a few weeks to study the gardens of Kyoto. I am, even now, saving up so that I may join him.
It's funny that he is interested in Japanese design now, because it was a very serious obsession of mine in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the books of various sorts on language and design that I keep throwing at him suggest. My architecture instructors kept telling me that my designs appeared to be very "Japanese," and ultimately I decided to find out if they were right, first hand. Also, I'd had to drop out of school for lack of money, and figured that I could cater to my obsession while earning some money and learning Japanese, all at once. My 1992 travelogue/letter to my pals explains, at great length, that things didn't turn out as I had planned. It was still a great experience, but not the specific experience I had signed up for.
Labels: world
posted by Arlene (Beth)5:30 PM
